THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  ILLINOIS 
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UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS  LIBRARY  AT  URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 

JAN  2  1  19 ; 

r5 

.  JAN  21 

1975 

JUN  t 

S1S79 

AUG  1  5 

1379 

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1973 

DEC  i 

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icr 

• 

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L161  — 0-1096 

♦ 


THE  TRUE  HISTORY 


REGARDING  ALLEGED  CONNECTION  OF  THE  ORDER  OF 


ANCIENT, 


I 


EE  AND  A 


T 

J 


in 
J 


EPTED  MASONS 


WITH  THE  ABDUCTION  AND  MURDER  OF 


WILLIAM  MORGAN, 

In  Western  New  York,  in  1826. 


TOGETHER  WITH  MUCH 


Interesting  and  Valuable  Contemporary  History. 

COMPILED  FROM  AUTHENTIC  DOCUMENTS  AND  RECORDS. 


BY 

P.  C.  HUNTINGTON. 

rJ< 


CHICAGO: 

HUNTINGTON  &  CO.,  PUBLISHERS, 

1883. 


COPYRIGHT. 

P.  C.  HUNTINGTON. 


1886. 


1 


1%%Z 


TO  THE  ORDER 

OF 

ANCIENT,  FREE  AND  ACCEPTED  MASONS, 

WHOSE 

PATRIOTISM,  PHILANTHROPY  AND  BENEFICENT  INFLUENCE 
ARE  WIDE  AS  HUMAN  LIFE, 

THIS  VOLUME 

IS  RESPECTFULLY  DEDICATED. 


i  HIM #JjhlW 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2019  with  funding  from 

University  of  Illinois  Urbana-Champaign  Alternates 


https://archive.org/details/truehistoryregar00hunt_0 


PREFACE. 


The  first  edition  of  “Masonic  Light”  was  issued  a 
little  more  than  six  years  ago,  and  it  is  not  too  much 
to  say  was  commended  by  those  interested. 

Since  that  time  a  large  amount  of  interesting  and 
valuable  material  and  history  relative  to  this  affair  has 
come  to  the  compiler’s  hand,  covering  and  completing 
the  argument,  and  adding  the  climax  of  evidence  regard¬ 
ing  the  false  statements  of  Anti-Masons. 

Chapters  X  and  XI  which  comprise  the  added  records 
will  be  found  replete  with  interesting  and  convincing 
facts. 

As  there  is  nothing  that  tortures  bigoted  assertion 
more  than  history — it  is  confidently  believed  that  the 
publication  of  this  volume  of  historic  facts  will  be  ap¬ 
preciated  by  all  lovers  of  the  truth. 

P.  C.  H. 

Chicago,  August,  1886. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I. 

Introduction . .  . . .  7 

CHAPTER  II. 

Morgan  and  his  Coadjutors .  24 

CHAPTER  III. 

Regarding  the  Abduction  of  Morgan  and  Trial  of 
his  Alleged  Abductors .  33 

CHAPTER  IY. 

Regarding  Alleged  Discovery  of  Morgan’s  Body.  .  57 

CHAPTER  Y. 

Confession  of  R.  H.  Hill  and  Others . .  97 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Edward  Giddins .  105 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Col.  Vm.  King  and  Capt.  Hyde . 113 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

Anti-masonic  Excitement  in  Western  New  York, 
and  the  Means  used  to  Increase  it .  121 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Concurrent  Events  and  Items .  132 

CHAPTER  X. 

Thurlow  Weed.  His  Connection  with  the  Morgan 
Affair,  and  the  Anti-Masonic  Agitation  in 
New  York .  147 

CHAPTER  XI. 

What  Became  of  William  Morgan .  157 

CHAPTER  XII. 

Conclusion .  170 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


CHAPTER  I. 

INTRODUCTION. 


FOR  more  than  fifty  years  past,  the 
opponents  of  Free  Masonry  in  this 
country  have  left  no  means  untried 
to  prejudice  and  malign  the  ancient  order. 

Beginning  more  particularly  with  the  ve¬ 
hement  and  fanatical  series  of  so-called 
“  exposures”  in  Western  New  York,  in  the 
year  1826,  there  has  been  a  constant  and 
bitter  crusade  against  the  institution,  break¬ 
ing  out  with  more  or  less  vindictiveness  as 
one  or  another  irrepressible  individual  has 
considered  himself  specially  called  upon  to 
anathematize  and  denounce. 

Very  few  now  living  can  appreciate  the 
annoyance,  and  even  peril,  which  surrounded 


8 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


those  who  held  steadfast  to  their  Masonic 
faith  through  the  stormy  excitements  of  half 
a  century  ago.  The  dominant  principle  of 
anti-masonry  at  that  time  consisted  not 
only  in  denouncing  all  Masons  indiscrimin¬ 
ately,  but  likewise  all  those  who  would  not 
join  in  denouncing  them.  Cold,  obdurate 
and  deceptive,  it  knew  no  compromise  and 
would  accept  no  peace  offering.  Nothing 
but  submission  to  its  dictates,  and  promised 
aid  in  the  diffusion  of  its  terrors,  could  save 
its  victims,  or  avert  a  meditated  blow.  It 
severed  the  ties  of  kindred,  destroyed  the 
peace  of  families,  armed  in  almost  deadly 
strife  one  portion  of  community  against 
another,  instigated  the  violation  of  law, 
and  shed  its  baneful  influence  over  every 
good  and  sacred  thing.  Churches  were 
broken  up,  political  parties  disrupted,  and 
the  most  tender  ties  of  friendship  between 
man  and  man  were  counted  for  nought  by 
those  who  went  mad  on  the  subject  of  the 
mystic  order.  Fraud,  deception  and  hypoc¬ 
risy  marked  its  course  then  as  now,  injustice 
and  oppression  accompanied  its  progress, 


INTRODUCTION. 


9 


and  a  wide  waste  of  moral  ruin  has  always 
followed  in  its  train. 

That  we  do  not  exaggerate  the  bitter  and 
fanatical  spirit  which  animated  the  anti¬ 
masons  of  fifty  years  ago,  we  will  give  a  sin¬ 
gle  personal  reminiscence  respecting  Deacon 
Benjamin  Porter,  who  resided  in  Western 
New  York  at  that  time,  and  whose  blame¬ 
less  life  can  be  vouched  for  by  some  who 
are  still  living. 

Deacon  Porter  was  one  of  those  char¬ 
acters  of  the  early  day  who  believed  in 
making  his  life  a  blessing.  Born  and  educa¬ 
ted  in  the  midst  of  a  sturdy  yet  tender 
Christian  atmosphere,  he  seemed  to  delight 
in  extending  the  influences  which  had 
cheered  him  to  all  he  met.  Did  sickness, 
distress  or  poverty  come  upon  any  of  his 
neighbors,  he  was  the  first  to  soothe  or 
bring  the  needed  relief. 

As  soon  as  the  settlement  where  he  had 
located  had  grown  so  as  to  justify  building 
a  house  for  public  worship,  he  was  among 
the  first  and  most  efficient  of  its  projectors, 
and,  being  limited  in  his  means,  became 


10 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


thereby  embarrassed.  His  Christian  forti¬ 
tude  however,  never  forsook  him,  and,  hav¬ 
ing  for  a  long  time  “  carried  the  Church  in 
his  arms,”  he  looked  forward  with  confidence 
to  the  time  when  the  church  should  afford 
him  a  place  of  rest  and  comfort. 

The  building  being  at  length  completed 
and  a  pastor  called  and  settled,  all  was 
peace  and  harmony  till  anti-masonry  pre¬ 
sented  itself  at  her  portals. 

Influenced  by  some  of  its  bigoted  and 
prejudiced  members  it  was  decided  that 
anti-masonry  should  thenceforth  he  united 
with  Christianity  in  administering  at  her 
altar. 

Deacon  Porter,  being  a  Mason,  was  called 
upon  to  renounce  the  order  and  declare  to 
the  world  over  his  own  signature  that  he 
had  been  “  a  hypocrite  and  villain  for  years.” 
This  he  promptly  and  emphatically  refused 
to  do,  and  for  that  reason  was  expelled  from 
the  church.  Notwithstanding  the  zeal  he 
had  always  manifested  in  her  favor;  not¬ 
withstanding  his  long  and  meritorious  ser¬ 
vices;  and  notwithstanding  the  fact  that 


INTRODUCTION. 


11 


the  frosts  of  more  than  seventy  winters  had 
whitened  his  locks,  the  relentless  spirit  of 
anti-masonry  which  had  gained  control  of 
the  church  turned  its  back  upon  him  and 
denied  him  its  offices  and  its  consolations. 
Because  he  would  not  obey  the  behests  of 
anti-masonry  and  brand  himself  a  perjured 
impostor  he  was  excluded  from  the  church 
he  had  done  so  much  to  institute  and 
adorn. 

The  sentiments  of  an  anti-masonic  speaker 
before  a  convention  held  in  1827  are  so 
atrocious  that  we  reproduce  a  portion  here, 
shewing  thereby  the  spirit  of  intolerance 
and  bitterness  which  animated  those  who 
were  instrumental  in  establishing  the  party. 

“We  are  (says  he)  commencing  a  course 
which  will  necessarily  bring  with  it  much 
disquietude  and  distress,  the  intercourse  of 
business  will  be  obstructed,  the  laudable 
associations  of  neighborhoods  will  be  con¬ 
vulsed,  and  many  of  the  best  sympathies  of 
our  natures  will  be  violently  turned  away 
from  their  customary  channels.” 


12 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


Such  sentiments  as  these,  a  Robespierre 
or  a  Marat  would  have  been  ashamed  to 
own.  No  other  than  men  reckless  of  charac¬ 
ter  and  of  all  the  finer  feelings  which  should 
animate  the  human  heart  would  have  cher¬ 
ished  such  malignant  intentions,  and  no 
other  than  the  “  architects  of  ruin  ”  would 
have  given  them  utterance. 

In  May,  1827,  the  Masonic  lodge  of 
Batavia,  New  York,  announced  their  inten¬ 
tion  of  celebrating  the  approaching  anniver¬ 
sary  of  St.  John  the  Baptist  in  an  appropriate 
manner.  No  sooner  was  this  announcement 
made  than  the  anti-masons  determined  to 
interfere  and  create  a  disturbance.  When 
the  day  arrived,  and  some  300  Masons  had 
joined  in  peaceable  procession,  they  were 
met  by  between  4,000  and  5,000  anti-masons, 
some  armed  with  guns  and  some  with  large 
knives,  all  bent  on  breaking  up  the  lawful 
meeting  of  the  hated  Masons.  Had  the 
latter,  smarting  as  they  did  under  the  insults 
heaped  upon  them,  been  at  all  resentful,  no 
doubt  the  streets  of  the  village  of  Batavia 
would  have  been  a  scene  of  bloodshed,  and 


INTRODUCTION. 


13 


the  land  would  have  again  rung  with  de¬ 
nunciations  of  the  order.  On  a  subsequent 
occasion,  when  Masons  met  to  elect  their 
annual  officers,  efforts  were  made  to  prevent 
them  from  assembling,  and  for  that  purpose 
an  effigy  was  carried  through  the  streets 
and  burned  opposite  the  lodge  room.  No 
matter  how  pure-minded,  how  wealthy,  or 
how  worthy,  a  man  need  only  be  known  as 
a  Mason  and  he  was  removed  from  office 
without  color  of  law,  excluded  from  juries, 
and,  so  far  as  possible,  was  outlawed  and 
proscribed.  All  sorts  of  heinous  offenses 
were  charged  against  the  order,  whether 
or  not  there  wras  the  slightest  foundation 
for  the  same,  and  time  has  scarcely  softened 
rhe  disposition  of  a  certain  class  to  malign 
and  traduce  everyone  who  dares  to  connect 
himself  with  the  institution.  Not  the  least 
disreputable  characteristic  of  the  present 
opponents  of  Free  Masonry  is  a  persistent 
disposition  to  twist  and  distort  plain  matters 
of  history  respecting  the  order,  and  espe¬ 
cially  regarding  the  disappearance  of  a  man 
named  William  Morgan,  who  lived  in  West- 


14 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


ern  New  York  about  fifty  years  ago.  The 
history  of  his  pretended  revelations,  under 
the  title  of  “  Morgan  s  Illustrations  of 
Masonry  is  familiar  to  all,  and  ever  since 
that  time  it  has  been  asserted  and  re-assert- 
ed  that  he  was  abducted  and  drowned  upon 
instigation  and  by  the  hands  of  prominent 
and  influential  Masons,  and  that  the  order 
have  always  justified  the  alleged  murder. 

The  essential  facts  relative  to  this  matter 
have  been  suppressed,  and  false  narratives 
and  chronicles  in  regard  to  the  events  them¬ 
selves  and  the  investigations  which  followed 
have  been  issued  and  circulated  almost 
without  number.  There  has  been  no  end 
of  endeavor  on  the  part  of  anti-masonic 
writers  to  pervert  history,  and  so  accus¬ 
tomed  have  Masons  become  to  this  sort  of 
literature  that  they  have  to  a  great  extent 
allowed  it  to  pass  without  any  attempt  at 
refutation,  supposing,  we  presume,  that 
time  would  eventually  rectify  these  mis¬ 
statements  and  demonstrate  the  Machiave- 
lian  juggling  of  these  dishonest  historians. 
The  eloquence  of  silence  has,  to  a  great 


INTRODUCTION. 


15 


extent,  been  the  policy  of  the  order,  and,  as 
a  consequence,  there  are  many  thousands 
who  do  not  know  the  true  history  of  what 
is  called  the  William  Morgan  excitement. 
Another  illustration  of  the  shameless  and 
disreputable  perversion  of  historic  facts  by 
anti- masonic  agitators  and  writers  is  the 
reiteration  of  the  story  that  Morgan’s  body 
was  found  on  the  shore  of  Lake  Ontario, 
and  recognized  by  his  friends  and  others. 
Within  the  past  three  months,  in  a  circular 
issued  by  one  of  these  anti-masonic  publish¬ 
ing  firms,  this  falsehood  is  repeated  in  the 
face  of  unquestionable  historic  facts,  which 
we  shall  produce  in  a  chapter  further  on. 
In  this  same  circular,  a  letter  is  published, 
written  by  Charles  Francis  Adams,  under 
date  of  March  23,  1880,  in  which,  while 
writing  respecting  the  Morgan  affair,  he 
makes  the  statement  that  the  Masonic 
order  never  expressed  any  “  regret  for  the 
offense.” 

The  utter  falsity  of  this  assertion  is  easily 
refuted  by  reference  to  the  following  historic 


16 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


fact  which  we  find  in  the  Albany ,  (N.  Y.) 
Masonick  Becord  of  February  lOfch,  1827. 

“  The  Grand  Royal  Arch  Chapter  of  the 
State  of  New  York  commenced  its  annual 
session  in  this  city  on  Tuesday  last,  and 
adjourned  this  day.  Upwards  of  one  hund¬ 
red  and  ten  subordinate  Chapters  were  rep¬ 
resented.  Previous  to  its  adjournment  the 
following  proceedings  were  had : 

“To  the  most  excellent  the  Grand  Chapter 
of  the  State  of  New  York: — 

“  The  Committee  appointed  by  resolution 
of  the  Grand  Chapter,  on  the  affair  of 
William  Morgan,  respectfully  report : 

“  That  they  have  attended  to  the  duties 
assigned  them,  and  that  from  the  highly 
agitated  and  inflamed  state  of  publick  feel¬ 
ing  on  this  subject,  and  from  the  false  and 
undeserved  imputations  which  have  been 
thrown  upon  Free  Masons,  and  the  Masonick 
order  generally,  your  Committee  deem  it 
proper  that  this  Grand  Chapter  should  make 
a  publick  expression  of  its  sentiments  in 
relation  to  the  affair  alluded  to.  Your 
Committee,  as  expressive  of  their  views  on 


INTRODUCTION. 


17 


the  subject,  embraced  in  this  report,  would 
offer,  for  the  consideration  of  the  Grand 
Chapter,  the  following  preamble  and  resolu¬ 
tions  : — 

“ Whereas , — the  rights  of  personal  liberty 
and  security  are  guaranteed  by  the  free 
constitution  under  which  we,  the  members 
of  this  Grand  Chapter,  in  common  with  the 
rest  of  our  fellow  citizens,  have  the  happi¬ 
ness  to  live:  and  whereas,  we  esteem  the 
preservation  of  these  rights  of  vital  impor¬ 
tance  to  the  perpetuity  and  full  enjoyment 
of  the  blessings  of  our  republican  institu¬ 
tions:  and  whereas,  the  community  has 
lately  witnessed  a  violation  of  the  same, 
under  the  alleged  pretext  of  the  Masonick 
name  and  sanction  (in  the  case  of  William 
Morgan) :  and  whereas,  the  principles  of 
our  ancient  and  honourable  fraternity  con¬ 
tain  nothing  which  in  the  slightest  degree 
justify  or  authorise  such  proceedings;  but, 
on  the  contrary,  do  in  all  their  tenets  and 
ceremonies  encourage  and  inculcate  a  just 
submission  to  the  laws,  the  enjoyment  of 
equal  rights  by  every  individual,  and  a  high 


18 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


and  elevated  spirit  of  personal  as  well  as 
national  independence : — 

“  Therefore  resolved,  by  this  GrandChapter, 
that  we  its  members,  individually  and  as  a 
body,  do  disclaim  all  knowledge  or  approba¬ 
tion  of  the  said  proceedings,  in  relation  to 
the  abduction  of  the  said  William  Morgan; 
and  that  we  disapprove  of  the  same,  as  a 
violation  of  the  majesty  of  the  laws,  and  an 
infringement  of  the  rights  of  personal  liberty 
secured  to  every  citizen  of  our  free  and 
happy  republick. 

“ Besolved ,  That  the  foregoing  report, 
preamble  and  resolution  be  published. 

“A  true  extract  from  the  minutes  of  the 
Grand  Royal  Arch  Chapter  of  the  State  of 

New  York.  «john0.  Cole, 

“6r.  Secretary 


The  Lyons  Royal  Arch  Chapter,  in  the 
county  of  Wayne,  on  the  15th  day  of  March, 
1827,  adopted  the  following  preamble  and 
resolutions : 

“  At  a  meeting  of  the  Lyons  Royal  Arch 
Chapter,  held  at  Chapter  Hall,  March  15th, 


INTRODUCTION. 


19 


1827,  the  following  preamble  and  resolutions 
were  adopted: 

“ Whereas ,  the  abduction  of  William  Mor¬ 
gan  has  given  rise  to  much  excitement  in 
the  publick  mind  against  the  fraternity 
of  Free  Masons,  and  as  efforts  have  been 
made,  both  in  public  newspapers  and  in 
private  circles,  to  charge  the  outrage  com¬ 
mitted  upon  his  person  against  the  whole 
body  of  Masons,  as  such;  and,  whereas, 
many  pretend  to  believe,  and  endeavour  to 
inculcate  that  belief  in  others,  that  the 
Masonick  fraternity  claims  a  right  to  inflict 
corporal  punishment,  and  even  put  to  death 
such  of  its  members  as  reveal  its  secrets  or 
violate  its  laws, — Therefore 

“Resolved,  that  we  hereby  declare  unto  the 
world  that  Masons  acknowledge  no  laws 
which  contravene  the  constitution  and  laws 
of  their  country,  and  that  the  Masonick  in¬ 
stitution  claims  no  right  to  inflict  corporal 
or  other  punishment  upon  its  members, 
except  suspensions,  and  expulsions,  and  that 
the  exercise  of  any  further  or  any  greater 


20 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


power  than  this  would  be  in  violation  of 
the  most  sacred  principles  of  our  order. 

“ Besolved ,  That  we  view  with  deep  regret 
the  gross  violation  of  the  laws  of  our 
country,  and  the  rules  and  principles  of 
Masonry,  by  members  of  our  institution,  in 
the  late  affair  of  William  Morgan,  and  that 
we  utterly  disclaim  all  knowledge  of,  or 
participation  whatever,  in  the  abduction  of 
said  Morgan;  and  that  we  will  as  Masons, 
have  no  communication  whatever  with  those 
persons  who  were  engaged  in  the  perpetra¬ 
tion  of  this  outrage. 

“I  certify  the  foregoing  preamble  and  reso¬ 
lutions  to  be  a  true  extract  from  the 
minutes  of  the  Lyons  Royal  Arch  Chapter. 
Dated  March  15th,  1827. 

“Graham  H.  Chapin, 

“  Secretary .” 

Similar  resolutions  were  adopted  at  the 
meetings  of  many  Lodges  and  Chapters  in 
various  parts,  of  the  State ;  and  it  seems 
strange  that  so  distinguished  a  gentleman 
as  the  one  in  question  should  so  deliber- 


INTRODUCTION. 


21 


ately  falsify  history.  Whether  his  state¬ 
ment  is  made  from  malice  or  ignorance,  of 
course  we  cannot  judge.  Certain  it  is  he 
has  no  reasonable  excuse  for  writing  such  a 
palpable  falsehood.  At  this  late  day  the 
simple  assertion  of  one  even  as  prominent 
as  Mr.  Adams  is  not  to  be  taken  for  granted 
when  the  plain  facts  of  history  are  so  clearly 
against  it.  The  erratic  agitator,  Wendell 
Phillips,  also  adds  his  frantic  screech  against 
Free  Masonry  in  this  same  delectable  docu¬ 
ment  by  saying :  “  Every  Freemason  swears 
to  break  the  law,  commit  the  greatest  crimes, 
and  repudiate  Christianity.”  Such  state¬ 
ments  as  these  are  too  preposterous  to 
undertake  to  answer.  They  are  quite  be¬ 
neath  argument,  and  are  simply  another 
verification  of  our  assertion,  that  anti- 
masonic  statements  are  worthy  of  no 
credence  whatever.  Further  chapters  will 
reveal  this  shocking  spirit  clearly  to  all  our 
readers. 

In  short,  we  propose  to  tear  the  mask  off 
these  hypocritical,  canting  pretenders,  and 
show,  from  records  which  are  authentic, 


22 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


that  there  is  no  positive  proof  that  William 
Morgan  was  ever  murdered,  and  that  the 
body  which  was  claimed  to  be  his  was  not 
his  at  all,  and,  finally,  that  the  vindictive 
trials  which  resulted  from  the  abduction 
failed  to  establish  the  fact  that  the  Masonic 
order  instigated  or  carried  it  out.  All 
writings  and  speeches  of  anti-masons,  when 
treating  of  these  early  excitements  in  West¬ 
ern  New  York,  show  a  wilful  and  deliberate 
determination  to  pervert  every  historic  fact. 
In  other  words,  the  idea  seems  to  be  that  a 
lie,  often  told  and  well  persisted  in,  answers 
them  the  purpose  of  a  truth.  Anti-masonic 
publications  which  were  issued  during  the 
years  1827,  ’28  and  ’29  have  been  the 
mainstay  of  these  later  writers,  without 
regard  to  their  truth  or  falsehood.  And  yet 
nothing  has  developed  to  verify  the  terrible 
prophecies  of  these  affrighted  seers.  Ma¬ 
sonry,  instead  of  developing  into  “  a  demor¬ 
alizing,  blasphemous,  murderous,  anti-re¬ 
publican  and  anti-Christian  system,”  as  a 
writer  of  that  day  asserted  it  would,  has 
gone  on  in  its  benign  course,  the  handmaid 


INTRODUCTION. 


23 


of  Christianity  and  civilization,  blessing 
thousands,  and  proving  itself  a  benefaction 
to  the  world.  Instead  of  being  the  pitiless 
and  malevolent  institution  it  has  so  many 
times  been  pronounced,  history  has  proven 
it  to  be  exactly  the  contrary.  And,  if  in 
this  little  volume  we  may  be  able  to  shed 
some  true  light  upon  the  historic  page, 
showing  that  the  ancient  order  of  Free 
Masonry  has  been  basely  and  vindictively 
assailed,  we  shall  be  satisfied  with  our 
efforts. 

The  testimony  and  statements  given  re¬ 
garding  the  Morgan  case,  and  contempora¬ 
neous  events  connected  therewith,  can  be 
relied  upon  as  the  truth.  Some  of  this 
evidence  and  history  has  been  published  in 
garbled  forms  inwarious  anti-masonic  books 
and  pamphlets.  Our  desire  is  to  fairly  and 
honestly  repeat  history  as  we  find  it.  And 
though  we  are  aware  that  this  record  may 
give  offense  to  some,  we  can  only  say,  in 
the  language  of  Themistocles,  “  Strike,  but 
hear  me.” 


CHAPTER  II. 


MORGAN  AND  HIS  COADJUTORS. 

THE  man  named  William  Morgan, 
who  acquired  such  general  but  un¬ 
enviable  notoriety  about  fifty-four 
years  ago,  was  born  in  Culpepper  County, 
Virginia,  in  the  year  1775  or  ’76.  Of  bis 
early  history  little  or  nothing  is  known.  It 
has  been  asserted  that  be  was  a  Captain  in 
Gen.  Jackson’s  army,  and  fought  at  the 
battle  of  New  Orleans.  It  has  also  been 
stated  that  be  belonged  to  a  band  of  pirates, 
and  was  at  one  time  sentenced  to  be  bung. 
Probably  neither  of  these  reports  is  true  ; 
one  thing  is  certain,  the  records  of  the  War 
Department  at  Washington  furnish  no  proof 
that  be  was  ever  in  the  army.  In  1821,  he 
removed  to  York,  Canada,  where  be  com¬ 
menced  the  business  of  a  brewer.  Before 


MORGAN  AND  HIS  COADJUTORS.  25 

long,  however,  his  brewery  burned  and  he 
removed  to  Rochester,  where  he  worked  at 
his  trade — bricklaying — for  a  while,  receiv¬ 
ing  assistance  from  the  Masonic  fraternity 
toward  the  support  of  his  family.  From 
there  he  went  to  Batavia,  where  he  also 
worked  at  his  trade  at  intervals  until  1826. 
During  his  residence  at  the  latter  place  he 
was  very  intemperate  and  frequently  neg¬ 
lected  his  family.  Without  the  advantages 
of  education  in  early  life,  he  had  subse¬ 
quently  acquired  a  fair  knowledge  of  read¬ 
ing,  writing  and  arithmetic,  and  was  a 
tolerably  good  accountant.  Possessed  of  a 
fair  share  of  common  sense,  and  considera¬ 
ble  suavity  of  manner,  he  appeared  respect¬ 
able  ;  and,  when  not  under  the  influence  of 
drink,  was  said  to  be  a  pleasant,  social  com¬ 
panion.  He  was  made  a  Royal  Arch  Mason 
in  Le  Roy,  New  York,  in  the  year  1824. 

In  1825,  it  was  proposed  to  establish  a 
Chapter  in  Batavia,  and  a  petition  to  the 
Grand  Chapter  of  the  State  was  drawn  up 
for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  a  charter. 


26 


MASONIC  LIGHT 


The  individual  to  whom  this  petition  was 
intrusted  for  procuring  signatures  (without 
reflecting  that  all  who  signed  the  petition 
would,  of  course,  become  members)  inad¬ 
vertently  presented  it  to  Morgan,  and 
he,  being  at  that  time  a  zealous  Mason, 
signed  it.  Before  the  petition  was  presented 
to  the  Grand  Chapter,  however,  some  indi¬ 
viduals,  unwilling  that  he  should  become  a 
member  on  account  of  his  habits,  thought 
it  advisable  to  draw  up  a  new  petition,  which 
was  accordingly  done.  The  new  one  was 
presented,  and  a  charter  obtained.  When 
the  charter  subsequently  arrived,  and  the 
Chapter  was  about  being  organized,  it  was 
found,  much  to  Morgan’s  surprise,  that  his 
name  was  not  included  among  the  number, 
and  of  course  he  could  not  be  admitted 
without  a  unanimous  vote.  Being  unable 
at  that  time  to  procure  such  a  vote,  he  was 
excluded.  At  this  he  took  offense,  and  it 
is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  this  was  the 
primary  cause  of  his  subsequent  actions 
toward  the  order.  At  all  events,  from 
being  the  warm  and  zealous  friend  of  the 


MORGAN  AND  HIS  COADJUTORS.  27 

institution,  as  he  had  hitherto  pretended  to 
be,  he  became  at  once  its  determined  foe. 
His  habits  being  dissolute,  and  the  com¬ 
panions  with  whom  he  usually  associated 
spurring  him  on  to  the  undertaking,  to¬ 
gether  with  the  wealth  which  he  supposed 
would  reward  his  exertions,  induced  him,  at 
every  hazard,  to  attempt  the  revelation  of 
Masonic  secrets.  Having  no  means,  he 
sought  for  some  one  to  become  financially 
responsible  in  publishing  his  “  exposures.” 
A  partnership  arrangement  was  entered  into 
with  three  men  named  John  Davids,  David 
C.  Miller,  and  Russell  Dyer,  and  on  the 
13th  of  March,  1826,  while  Morgan  was  at 
work  on  his  manuscript,  the  following  oath 
was  made  and  subscribed  to : 

“  We,  and  each  of  us,  do  hereby  most 
solemnly  and  sincerely  promise  and  swear, 
upon  the  Holy  Evangelists  of  Almighty 
God,  that  we  will  never  divulge  during  our 
natural  lives,  communicate  or  make  known 
to  any  person  or  persons  in  the  known  world, 
our  knowledge,  or  any  part  thereof,  respect¬ 
ing  William  Morgan’s  intentions  (commu- 


28 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


nicated  to  us),  to  publish  a  book  on  the 
subject  of  Free  Masonry,  neither  by  writing, 
marking^  or  insinuations,  or  any  way  devis¬ 
able  by  man.  Sworn  and  subscribed  this 
13th  day  of  March,  1826.” 

Signed,  “John  Davids. 

“David  C.  Miller. 

“Bussell  Dyer.” 

On  the  5th  day  of  August  following,  these 
parties  executed  a  bond  to  Morgan  “  in  the 
penal  sum  of  five  hundred  thousand  dollars, 
conditioned  for  the  payment  of  one-fourth 
part  of  the  sum  which  should  be  received 
on  the  sale  of  a  certain  book  upon  Free 
Masonry,  which  the  said  John  Davids, 
David  C.  Miller  and  Bussell  Dyer  are  about 
to  publish.” 

On  the  7th  day  of  August,  and  only  two 
days  after  the  said  bond  purports  to  have 
been  dated,  Morgan,  who  had  had  some 
trouble  with  his  friends  and  partners,  ad¬ 
dressed  to  them  the  following  note : 


MORGAN  AND  HIS  COADJUTORS.  29 

Batavia,  August  7,  1826. 

Gentlemen  : 

My  note  of  this  morning  has  not  been 
answered.  Further  evasion  and  equivocation  I 
will  not  submit  to.  Acknowledge  you  are  not 
gentlemen,  or  I  will  expose  you  in  twelve  hours, 
unless  you  do  as  you  agreed  to.  I  am  not  a  child; 
if  you  suppose  I  am,  you  are  mistaken.  I  am  a 
man,  and  will  not  suffer  myself  to  be  imposed  on. 
You  have  not  acted  as  gentlemen;  I  am  sorry  to  be 
compelled  to  say  it.  Every  part  of  your  conduct 
has  been  mysterious,  and  why  so?  My  first  im¬ 
pressions  were,  that  you  are  not  honest  men; 
therefore,  I  wish  to  settle  and  have  no  more  to  do 
with  you.  If  either  of  you  feel  hurt,  call  on  me 
as  gentlemen  and  I  will  give  you  any  satisfaction 

you  wish.  William  Morgan. 

David  C.  Miller,  whose  name  appears  in 
the  above  transaction,  was  the  only  one 
who  finally  became  personally  and  inti¬ 
mately  associated  with  Morgan  in  issuing 
his  hook.  He  was  publisher  of  a  small 
weekly  paper  in  Batavia,  and  it  was  at  his 
office  that  the  “  Illustrations  of  Masonry  ” 
were  printed.  Miller  was  endowed  by 
nature  with  a  great  deal  of  cunning.  Pos¬ 
sessed  of  respectable  talents,  and  familiar 
with  the  arts  to  which  designing  men  fre- 


30 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


quently  resort  for  the  acquisition  of  power 
in  cases  of  doubtful  policy,  and  withal  en¬ 
joying  great  freedom  from  religious  scru¬ 
ples,  he  was  admirably  fitted  to  fill  a  station 
which  the  folly  of  a  few  misguided  mem¬ 
bers  of  the  Masonic  fraternity  created,  it 
seems,  for  his  use  and  benefit.  The  estab¬ 
lishment  of  a  rival  paper  in  Batavia,  and 
the  transfer  to  it  of  a  large  share  of  the  pub¬ 
lic  patronage,  embittered  his  feelings  and 
made  him  desperate  to  embark  in  any  under¬ 
taking  which  should  afford  a  prospect  of 
wealth  or  power.  He  was  initiated  years 
before  as  an  Entered  Apprentice  in  Albany, 
and  his  want  of  principle  was  clearly  shown 
when  he  made  haste  to  secure  an  interest 
in  the  publication  of  Morgan’s  Masonic  Ex¬ 
posure.  In  order,  however,  to  effect  a  large 
demand  for  the  book,  he  foresaw  the  neces¬ 
sity  of  “  creating  a  stir  among  the  Masons,” 
and  for  that  purpose  commenced  abusing 
them  individually  and  collectively.  Some 
of  their  number,  unfortunately,  fell  into  his 
snare,  indiscreetly  retorted  upon  him,  and 
thereby  laid  a  foundation  for  one  of  the  most 


MORGAN  AND  HIS  COADJUTORS.  31 

singular  and  extraordinary  events  in  the 
history  of  our  country.  Another  champion 
of  anti-masonry,  who  came  to  the  front 
about  this  time,  was  a  man  named  Thomas 
Hamilton.  Morgan’s  “  Illustrations  of  Ma¬ 
sonry  ,”  not  having  been  so  explicit  as  could 
have  been  desired,  and  admitting  of  various 
interpretations,  it  soon  became  apparent 
that  some  explanations  were  necessary.  A 
difficulty  arose,  however,  in  finding  a  suita¬ 
ble  person  for  that  purpose. 

While  this  difficulty  was  seriously  felt  by 
leading  anti-masonic  agitators,  this  man 
Hamilton  suddenly  appeared.  By  pretend¬ 
ing  to  a  knowledge  of  Morgan’s  fate,  and 
expressing  frequent  alarm  for  his  own  per¬ 
sonal  safety,  he  contrived  to  gain  their  con¬ 
fidence  and  set  himself  up  as  an  exponent 
of  this  new  gospel  of  anti-masonry.  In 
the  first  instance  he  tendered  his  services 
as  an  assistant  editor  to  Miller,  hut  finding 
that  position  filled  he  started  out  as  a 
lecturer  against  Masonry.  He  went  to 
Rochester,  Utica,  Buffalo  and  other  places, 
sometimes  attracting  large  audiences,  often 


32 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


becoming  so  intoxicated  that  he  would  be 
missing  for  days  and  even  weeks,  but  finally 
ending  his  miserable  public  career  by  com¬ 
mitting  an  outrageous  crime  for  which  he 
was  sent  to  the  state  prison  at  Auburn  for 
seven  years. 


T' 

r 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  ALLEGED  ABDUCTION  OF  MORGAN,  AND  TRIAL 
OF  HIS  ALLEGED  ABDUCTORS. 

IN  order  to  give  a  complete  history  of 
the  circumstances  connected  with  the 
disappearance  of  William  Morgan,  it 
is  necessary  to  commence  at  the  point  of  his 
first  arrest.  In  May,  1826,  while  at  Canan¬ 
daigua,  Morgan  borrowed  some  clothing  of 
a  man  named  Kingsley  in  that  village,  which 
he  promised  to  return  shortly  after. 

Having  neglected  to  do  so,  a  warrant 
was  issued  against  him  the  following  August, 
on  complaint  of  Kingsley,  for  petit  larceny. 

This  warrant  was  placed  in  the  hands  of 
a  constable  named  Hayward,  who  proceeded 
to  Batavia  and  served  it.  Without  making 
the  slightest  objection,  Morgan  entered  the 
carriage  and  started  for  Canandaigua.  On 
arriving  at  LeKoy,  Hayward  offered  to  take 


34 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


him  before  the  Justice  by  whom  the  war¬ 
rant  had  been  indorsed,  that  he  might  give 
bail  if  he  desired.  Morgan,  however,  de¬ 
clined  the  offer  and  preferred  to  go  on  to 
Canandaigua.  On  arriving  there  he  was 
acquitted  of  any  intended  felony  and  imme¬ 
diately  discharged.  Upon  his  discharge, 
however,  he  was  arrested  for  debt,  con¬ 
fessed  judgment  thereon,  and  by  virtue  of 
an  execution  he  was  committed  to  jail.  In¬ 
cidentally,  in  this  connection,  it  is  proper 
to  state  that  those  who  accompanied  the 
constable,  Hayward,  from  Canandaigua  to 
Batavia  at  the  time  of  Morgan’s  arrest 
were  afterwards  indicted,  tried  and  acquitted. 
No  connection  has  ever  been  traced  between 
those  who  arrested  him  in  Batavia  and 
those  who  were  subsequently  accused  of 
taking  him  from  the  jail  in  Canandaigua 
and  carrying  him  Westward,  though  anti¬ 
masons  have  since  made  no  inconsiderable 
hue  and  cry  regarding  it. 

The  next  morning  after  Morgan  was 
committed  to  jail,  one  Loton  Lawson,  who 
was  afterward  indicted,  tried  and  convicted 


THE  ALLEGED  ABDUCTION. 


35 


for  participating  in  his  abduction,  paid  the 
debt  and  procured  Morgan’s  discharge. 

At  the  time  of  his  release  from  prison  it 
seems  a  carriage  was  waiting  at  the  door, 
into  which  Morgan  was  placed,  and  driven 
directly  to  Rochester.  The  persons  who 
rode  in  the  carriage  have  never  been  dis¬ 
covered,  but  it  is  in  evidence  that  the 
carriage  was  hired  and  paid  for  by  Nicholas 
G.  Chesebro.  Chesebro  and  Lawson,  to¬ 
gether  with  Edward  Sawyer  and  John 
Sheldon,  were  afterward  indicted  for  par¬ 
ticipating  in  this  transaction.  Chesebro, 
Sawyer  and  Lawson  pleaded  guilty  to  their 
indictments.  Sheldon  was  tried,  unjustly 
convicted,  and,  together  with  Chesebro, 
Sawyer  and  Lawson,  subsequently  impris¬ 
oned. 

Lawson  was  imprisoned  in  the  county 
jail  for  two  years,  Chesebro  for  one  year, 
Sheldon  for  three  months,  and  Sawyer  for 
one.  The  want  of  severity  in  their  several 
punishments  having,  in  the  estimation  of 
some,  exposed  the  court  to  much  censure, 
it  is  but  justice  here  to  remark  that  no  law, 


36 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


at  that  time,  made  the  kidnapping  of  a 
white  man  anything  more  than  a  misde¬ 
meanor  at  common  law,  punishable  by  fine 
and  imprisonment.  Besides,  from  the  evi¬ 
dence  adduced,  and  the  exculpatory  affida¬ 
vits  afterward  made  and  filed,  it  is  not  to 
be  inferred  that  either  of  the  defendants 
were  concerned  in  any  subsequent  acts  of 
violence,  nor  is  it  to  be  presumed  that  any¬ 
thing  else  was  intended  by  Morgan’s  abduc¬ 
tion  than  to  produce  a  separation  between 
him  and  Miller,  and  thereby  prevent  the 
publication  of  the  contemplated  book. 

Neither  Chesebro,  Sawyer  nor  Sheldon 
left  Canandaigua,  and  Morgan  must  have 
fallen  into  other  hands.  The  precise  man¬ 
ner  in  which  he  was  conveyed  from  thence 
to  the  vicinity  of  Fort  Niagara  has  never 
been  ascertained;  nor  was  it  ever  positively 
proved  that  he  was  ever  conveyed  to  that 
point.  Circumstances,  however,  which  in 
many  cases  are  equally  conclusive  with 
positive  proof,  and  often  more  so,  seem  to 
point  very  strongly  to  the  fact.  It  appears 
beyond  controversy  that  Morgan  left  the 


THE  ALLEGED  ABDUCTION. 


37 


jail  in  Canandaigua  of  his  own  free  will,  and 
that  upon  so  doing  he  was  placed  in  a 
carriage  and  taken  westward.  But  that  he 
was  conveyed  more  than  a  hundred  miles 
through  a  well- settled  country  at  great  risk 
and  expense,  for  the  purpose  of  being  mur¬ 
dered  in  a  particular  place,  is  too  absurd  to 
be  credited  for  a  moment.  Neither  is  it 
reasonable  to  suppose  that  those  who  had 
him  in  charge,  if  they  had  originally  in¬ 
tended  to  have  murdered  him,  would  have 
called  in  so  many  to  their  aid..  It  could 
have  been  done  as  well,  and  with  far  less 
danger  of  detection,  had  fewer  persons  en¬ 
gaged  in  the  affair.  Besides,  Chesebro  and 
Sawyer,  both  of  whom  were  men  of  unques¬ 
tionable  veracity,  testified  that  the  only 
object  in  carrying  off  Morgan  was  to  secure 
a  separation  between  him  and  Miller,  and 
thereby  prevent  the  publication  of  what 
Morgan  himself  alleged  he  was  under  solemn 
obligations  never  to  reveal.  Subsequent  cir¬ 
cumstances,  developed  by  what  was  termed 
the  Lewiston  committee,  fortify  this  con¬ 
clusion.  The  next  point  in  this  part  of  our 


38 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


history  is  the  trial  of  Eli  Bruce  and  others 
for  a  conspiracy  to  kidnap  and  carry  off 
William  Morgan. 

This  trial  took  place  at  Canandaigua,  at 
what  was  called  the  “  Ontario  General 
Sessions,”  commencing  August  20th,  1828. 

On  account  of  its  importance,  and  the  fact 
that  it  was  really  the  grapple  of  fanatical 
anti-masonry  in  its  effort  to  fasten  guilt 
upon  some  one,  whether  right  or  wrong, 
we  reproduce  from  the  court  records  the 
material  evidence  in  the  case. 

“Ontario  General  Sessions, 
“Canandaigua,  N.  Y., 

“  August  20th ,  1828. 

11  Present,  Hon.  Nathaniel  W.  Howell, 
Hon.  Chester  Loomis,  Hon.  John  Price, 
and  Hon.  Samuel  Rawson,  Judges  of  the 
County  Courts  of  Ontario  County. 

“  The  indictment  against  Eli  Bruce, 
Orsamus  Turner  and  Jared  Barrow,  for  a 
conspiracy  to  kidnap  and  carry  away  William 
Morgan  from  the  county  of  Ontario  to  parts 
unknown,  was  brought  on  for  trial  at  the 
opening  of  the  court  in  the  afternoon. 


THE  ALLEGED  ABDUCTION. 


39 


“  Counsel  for  the  people :  Daniel  Moseley, 
Esq.,  Special  Commissioner;  Bowen  Whit¬ 
ing,  District  Attorney  of  Ontario  County, 
and  Charles  Butler,  Esq. 

“  Counsel  for  the  defendants:  Hon.  Dud¬ 
ley  Marvin,  and  Mark  H.  Sibley,  Esq.,  of 
Canandaigua;  Wm.  H.  Adams,  Esq.,  of 
Lyons ;  and  Vincent  Matthews,  and  Ebenezer 
Griffin,  Esq.,  of  Rochester. 

“  The  following  persons  were  sworn  as 
jurors:  Hiram  Anson,  Nathan  Cary,  Jasper 
W.  Peet,  Levi  Smith,  Amasa  Spencer,  John 
Stults,  Evart  Green,  AbrahamDodge,  Henry 
Lincoln,  Daniel  Short,  John  Pennal,  Jr., 
and  Samuel  Reed. 

“  Mr.  Whiting  opened  the  case  on  behalf 
of  the  people  and  Mark  H.  Sibley,  Esq.,  for 
the  accused,  after  which  the  following  testi¬ 
mony  was  introduced. 

“ Israel  B.  Hall ,  sworn — Was  jailer  of 
Ontario  County  in  1826.  Knew  William 
Morgan,  who  was  committed  to  the  jail  of 
said  county  on  the  10th  of  September,  in 
that  year,  and  discharged  on  the  12th  of 


40 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


the  same  month,  as  this  witness  has  been 
informed.  Witness  was  absent  from  the 
jail  at  the  time  of  Morgan’s  commitment 
and  discharge. 

“  Jeffrey  CJivpman ,  sworn — Was  a  justice 
of  the  peace  in  Canandaigua  in  1826.  On 
the  morning  of  the  10th  of  that  month, 
Nicholas  G.Chesebro  came  to  my  house  and 
requested  me  to  go  to  his  office.  I  did  so, 
and  shortly  after  Ebenezer  C.  Kingsley 
came  in  and  made  a  complaint  against  Mor¬ 
gan  for  larceny.  I  issued  a  warrant,  and  by 
virtue  of  same  Morgan  was  apprehended 
and  brought  before  me  the  next  day,  and 
was  discharged  for  want  of  sufficient  proof 
to  convict.  A  second  warrant  wTas  asked 
and  issued  on  account  of  debt  due  to  Aaron 
Ackley.  Morgan  was  arrested  on  this,  judg¬ 
ment  was  entered  up  against  him  by  his 
own  consent,  execution  thereon  taken  out 
and  given  to  Holloway  Hayward,  then  a 
constable  in  Canandaigua.  * 

11  Holloway  Hayivard ,  sworn — Was  a  con¬ 
stable  in  Canandaigua  in  1826.  Keceived 


THE  ALLEGED  ABDUCTION. 


41 


the  warrant  issued  against  Morgan  on  the 
charge  of  larceny.  Went  to  Batavia  and 
arrested  Morgan  at  that  place,  brought  him 
before  Mr.  Chipman  and  was  present  during 

his  examination.  I  afterward  received  the 

♦ 

execution  against  Morgan,  arrested  him  by 
virtue  of  it,  and  committed  him  to  the  jail 
of  Ontario  County  between  the  hours  of 
eight  and  nine  o’clock  in  the  evening  of  the 
eleventh  of  September. 

“  Mary  W.  Hall ,  sworn — Am  wife  of 
Israel  R.  Hall,  who  was  jailer  of  Ontario 
County  in  1826.  Was  not  at  home  when 
Morgan  was  committed,  but  came  home  on 
the  twelfth  of  September,  and  found  him  in 
jail.  Mr.  Hall  went  out  about  dark  on  the 
evening  of  that  day.  A  person  came  to  the 
jail  and  inquired  for  Mr.  Hall,  and  I  told 
him  he  had  gone  from  home.  The  person 
then  wished  to  go  into  Morgan’s  room,  but 
I  refused  to  allow  him.  He  then  asked 
permission  to  have  a  private  conversation 
with  Morgan,  which  I  also  refused.  He 
then  insisted  on  paying  the  debt  for  which 


42 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


he  was  imprisoned,  and  taking  him  away; 
this,  too,  was  refused.  He  then  went  in 
search  of  Mr.  Hall,  but  soon  returned  with¬ 
out  finding  him,  and  then  asked  me  if  I 
would  discharge  Morgan  if  Col.  Sawyer 
would  say  it  was  all  right.  I  did  not  say 
whether  I  would  or  not.  The  person  then 
went  away  and  soon  came  back  with  Col. 
Sawyer.  Chesebro  advised  me  to  let  Mor¬ 
gan  go.  Lawson  then  paid  the  amount  for 
which  Morgan  was  imprisoned,  and  I  then 
went  and  unlocked  the  door  of  Morgan’s 
room,  and  Lawson  went  in  and  led  him  into 
the  hall  of  the  jail.  I  then  went  to  the 
door  and  saw  three  men  taking  Morgan 
east;  he  seemed  to  be  struggling  and  his 
hat  fell  off,  which  one  of  the  men  picked 
up.  I  saw  no  other  person  around  the 
jail.  An  unknown  person  rapped  on  the 
well  curb,  and  a  carriage  soon  passed.  It 
shortly  returned,  going  towards  the  west. 
This  took  place  about  nine  in  the  evening 
of  the  twelfth  of  September.  I  have  not 
seen  Morgan  since. 


THE  ALLEGED  ABDUCTION. 


43 


“ Hiram  Hubbard ,  sworn — In  September, 
1826, 1  kept  a  livery  stable  in  Canandaigua. 
On  the  twelfth  of  that  month  Mr.  Chauncey 
H.  Coe  applied  to  me  to  take  a  party  to 
Rochester.  The  carriage  was  a  yellow  two- 
horse  carriage,  and  the  horses  gray.  About 
the  time  I  was  ready,  some  person  on  the 
sidewalk,  then  and  now  unknown  to  wit¬ 
ness,  told  me  to  go  on  the  Palmyra  road 
when  he  was  ready,  for  the  party  had  gone 
on.  This  was  the  only  direction  I  had  as  to 
setting  out.  I  did  not  hear  a  rap  on  the 
well-curb.  Started  about  nine  o’clock  in 
the  evening.  It  was  pleasant,  and  the  moon 
shone.  No  one  was  in  the  carriage  when  I 
left  the  barn.  I  went  beyond  the  jail  east 
about  fifty  or  sixty  rods,  and  stopped  oppo¬ 
site  the  long  house.  The  party,  supposed 
to  be  five  or  six  in  number,  there  opened 
the  carriage  and  got  in.  I  heard  no  noise. 
I  knew  none  of  the  party  then,  nor  where 
they  came  from,  and  have  not  known  them 
since.  I  cannot  say  whether  I  saw  them 
get  into  the  carriage.  I  was  not  particular 
in  looking  at  them.  After  they  got  in,  I 


44 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


turned  *around  and  drove  toward  Eochester. 
When  I  reached  Eochester  I  stopped  at  the 
large  watering-place  on  Main  Street,  ten  or 
twelve  minutes.  Some  of  the  party  got  out 
here;  but  I  don’t  know  whether  any  went 
from  the  carriage.  I  saw  no  one  of  them 
that  I  knew,  and  have  seen  none  since  to 
recognize  them.  The  party  desired  me  to 
go  beyond  Eochester,  which  I  consented  to 
do,  taking  the  Lewiston  road.  On  arriving 
at  Hanford’s,  which  was  then  a  tavern,  the 
party  got  out,  and,  as  I  could  get  no  feed, 
I  turned  around  and  started  back  toward 
Eochester.  No  one  returned  in  my  carriage 
to  Eochester,  except  two  transient  persons 
whom  I  took  in  on  the  road,  neither  of 
whom  I  knew. 

“ Ezra  Platt ,  sworn — In  September,  1826, 
I  kept  a  livery  stable  at  Eochester.  I  am 
a  Mason  and  a  member  of  the  Chapter.  A 
lodge  had  previously  been  established  at 
Lewiston.  A  Chapter  was  expected  to  be 
installed  there,  and  the  Eochester  Chapter 
had  been  authorized  to  install  it.  It  is 
usual  for  the  Grand  Chapter  to  issue  to 


THE  ALLEGED  ABDUCTION. 


45 


suitable  persons  a  special  commission  for 
such  a  purpose.  The  first  officers  of  a 
Chapter  would  be  proper  Commissioners. 
After  the  fact  of  the  Bochester  Chapter 
having  received  a  commission  to  install  one 
at  Lewiston  had  been  known  for  some  time, 
and  about  ten  days  before  the  installation, 
I  was  asked  if  I  could  furnish  carriages  to 
to  take  the  Commissioners  to  Lewiston; 
and  stated  I  could,  but  that  I  could  not 
go  myself  on  account  of  ill  health.  About 
four  or  five  o’clock  in  the  morning  of  the 
day,  or  day  but  one,  before  the  Lewiston 
installation,  some  person  called  at  my  front 
door  and  said  he  wanted  a  carriage  to  go 
to  Lewiston,  and  desired  it  might  be  sent 
to  Ensworth’s  where  the  company  was. 
The  carriage  was  sent  soon  after  called  for, 
and  was  gone  for  several  days.  I  supposed 
it  was  for  the  Commissioners,  and  had  no 
intimation  that  Morgan  was  going  in  it. 
I  did  not  see  the  person  that  called  for  the 
carriage,  and  have  never  been  able  to  ascer¬ 
tain  who  he  was.  I  made  a  memorandum 


46 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


/ 

charge  in  these  words,  ‘  Grand  Chapter  pro 
tempore  to  carriage  to  Lewiston.’ 

“  Solomon  G.  Wright ,  sworn — I  kept  a 
public  house  in  Niagara  County  in  Septem¬ 
ber,  1826.  During  that  month,  on  the  day 
before  the  installation,  just  at  night,  a  two- 
horse  pleasure  carriage  or  hack  drove  under 
my  shed  and  afterwards  into  my  barn,  which 
is  a  few  rods  beyond  the  house.  The  feed¬ 
ing  boxes  in  the  shed  were  broken  down, 
and  the  carriage  was  driven  into  the  barn 
to  feed  the  horses,  and  they  ate  from  boxes 
placed  before  them  on  the  floor  where  the 
carriage  stood  in  the  farther  end  of  the 
barn.  Don’t  know  whether  they  were  taken 
from  the  carriage.  The  horses  were  not 
changed.  Did  not  see  those  who  came  in 
the  carriage  get  out  or  in.  Don’t  know 
where  they  got  out  nor  how  many  there 
were.  Did  not  know  any  of  them  or  the 
driver.  Have  never  seen  the  driver  since. 
Those  who  came  in  the  carriage,  including 
the  driver,  took  supper  and  paid  their  bills 
to  me.  My  bar-keeper  was  gone  and  I 


THE  ALLEGED  ABDUCTION. 


47 


tended  bar.  Was  in  the  bar  when  they  first 
came  in,  and  saw  them  go  through  the  bar¬ 
room  to  supper.  The  driver  obtained  food 
for  the  horses.  I  do  not  know  of  my  own 
knowledge  that  anyone  came  in  the  carriage. 
Did  not  see  the  door  opened.  Don’t  know 
whether  the  curtains  were  down  or  not. 
Don’t  know  that  anyone  was  in  the  carriage 
during  supper.  Saw  no  one  go  to  the 
carriage  during  supper,  and  did  not  go 
myself.  I  went  into  the  barn  once  while 
the  carriage  was  there,  to  look  after  a 
servant.  Neither  saw  nor  heard  any  per¬ 
son.  I  passed  the  shed  in  going  to  the 
barn;  there  were  horses  under  it.  It  was 
dark  when  they  finished  supper.  After 
supper  they  proceeded  West.  I  did  not 
see  them  get  into  the  carriage.  My  house, 
shed  and  barn  are  all  on  the  same  side  of 
the  road.  During  supper,  and  while  they 
were  in  my  house,  the  installation  was  talked 
about.  I  do  not  know  how  many  went  in 
the  carriage.  I  did  not  see  it  start.  There 
was  nothing  mysterious  about  it  that  attract¬ 
ed  particular  attention.  There  were  per- 


48 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


sons  in  my  liouse  who  did  not  come  in  the 
carriage.  I  did  not  know  these  men  nor 
their  business.  I  knew  Eli  Bruce  at  that 
time.  Did  not  see  him  at  my  house  that 
night.  I  know  Elisha  Mather;  did  not  see 
him  that  night.  He  was  at  my  house  about 
that  time,  I  think  it  was  before  this.  Saw 
him  the  next  day  or  the  next  day  hut  one. 
A  carriage  passed  my  house  the  next  day; 
don’t  know  whether  or  not  it  was  the  one 
which  had  passed  the  day  before.  It  is 
usual  for  carriages  to  stop  there,  but  they 
do  not  always  do  so. 

“  William  Mollineux ,  sworn — In  Septem¬ 
ber,  182G,  on  the  night  before,  or  the  night 
after  the  installation  at  Lewiston,  Eli  Bruce 
came  to  my  house  with  two  strangers,  and 
desired  a  change  of  horses,  as  himself  and 
some  of  his  friends  were  going  to  Lewiston. 
Bruce  said  they  should  he  used  carefully. 
I  called  up  my  son,  and,  after  consulting 
him,  concluded  to  let  Bruce  have  the 
horses.  Bruce  and  my  son  hitched  up  the 
horses.  I  do  not  know  from  which  way  the 


THE  ALLEGED  ABDUCTION. 


49 


carriage  came,  nor  whether  Bruce  went  on 
with  it.  One  of  Bruce’s  companions  stayed 
over  night  with  me,  and  took  care  of  the 
horses  that  were  with  the  carriage,  and 
helped  change  them  when  it  returned.  I 
do  not  know  who  drove.  The  horses  re¬ 
turned  the  next  morning  a  little  before 
sunrise,  in  the  charge  of  Brown.  I  saw  no 
person  but  Bruce  and  the  two  strangers 
who  were  with  him.  Can’t  say  which  road 
the  carriage  took  in  the  morning,  nor  how 
many  were  in  it.  I  did  not  see  Bruce  again 
till  the  next  winter. 

“  Cory  don  Fox ,  sworn  —  In  September, 
1826,  I  lived  at  Lewiston,  with  Mr.  Barton, 
in  the  capacity  of  a  stage  driver.  Tne 
night  before,  or  night  after  the  installation, 
Mr.  Barton  called  me  up  and  told  me  to 
get  the  hack  and  horses  ready  to  go  to 
Youngstown.  When  I  was  ready,  Bruce 
got  on  the  box  and  directed  me  to  drive 
into  a  back  street  to  a  carriage  which  I 
found  standing  there  without  any  horses 
attached  to  it.  I  drove  by  the  carriage  in 


50 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


the  back  street.  Some  persons  were  stand¬ 
ing  near  it.  One  or  two  got  out  of  it,  and, 
after  they  and  Bruce  had  got  in  my  hack, 
Bruce  told  me  to  drive  to  Col.  King’s  about 
six  miles  distant.  I  would  have  noticed 
violence  if  there  had  been  any,  but  there 
was  none.  On  arriving  at  King’s,  I  stopped 
by  direction  of  Bruce,  who  got  out  and 
called  to  King,  who  came  down  into  the 
hall,  where  he  and  Bruce  conversed  together. 
King  and  Bruce  then  got  in,  and  I  drove  to 
the  burying  ground,  about  three-quarters 
of  a  mile  from  King’s,  and  half  a  mile  from 
the  fort,  where  I  stopped  by  Bruce’s  direc¬ 
tion.  There  were  no  houses  near.  The 
party,  four  in  number,  got  out  and  proceeded 
side  by  side  towards  the  fort,  and  I,  by 
Bruce’s  order,  returned  to  Lewiston,  where 
I  arrived  before  daylight.  I  have  often 
been  called  up  late  at  night,  and  frequently 
drove  passengers  whom  I  did  not  know,  but 
it  is  not  usual  to  take  up  a  party  in  a  back 
street,  and  I  never  before  left  a  party  at  the 
burying  ground,  which  is  not  an  ordinary 
stopping  place.  The  next  day  I  saw  Bruce 


THE  ALLEGED  ABDUCTION. 


51 


at  the  Frontier  House  in  Lewiston.  I  do 
not  know  what  became  of  the  carriage 
which  was  left  in  the  road.  I  saw  nothing 
unusual  in  the  manner  of  getting  in  and  out 
of  my  hack. 

“ Elisha  Adams,  sworn — I  lived  in  Porter, 
Niagara  County,  in  1826,  about  two  miles 
down  the  lake  from  the  village  of  Youngs¬ 
town.  The  troops  left  the  fort  in  June, 
except  one  old  soldier,  who  died  there  soon 
after  they  had  gone.  About  the  middle  of 
September  Giddins  went  to  York.  He  was 
absent  three  or  four  days,  and  I  took  charge 
of  the  ferry  and  his  house  during  his 
absence.  Giddins’  house  was  on  the  flat 
below  the  fort,  twenty  or  thirty  rods  dis¬ 
tant  from  it.  That  part  of  the  fort  nearest 
his  house  is  the  magazine,  which  forms 
part  of  the  wall.  There  were  ammunition, 
quartermaster’s  stores,  etc.,  in  the  fort.  I 
went  away  the  day  before  Giddins  came 
home.  Was  frequently  at  the  fort  in  Sep¬ 
tember.  Giddins  had  charge  of  the  fort 
and  public  property  there.  Don’t  know 


52 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


where  the  key  of  the  magazine  was  while 
Giddins  was  absent.  Supposed  it  was  in 
the  mess  house,  which  is  to  the  left  of  the 
magazine,  as  viewed  from  Giddins’  house. 
Heard  no  one  in  magazine  while  tending 
ferry.  Don’t  know  that  anyone  was  there. 
Heard,  about  the  time  of  Giddins’  return,* 
of  Morgan  having  been  brought  there. 
Never  heard  so  from  either  of  the  defend¬ 
ants.  Don’t  know  that  food  or  drink  was 
carried  to  the  magazine  while  Giddins  was 
absent.  Was  in  it  both  before  and  since 
the  troops  left  the  fort.  About  the  time 
the  public  property  was  sold,  I  was  em¬ 
ployed  to  put  things  in  order  at  the  fort. 
I  went  to  Giddins’  house  at  his  request,  but 
cannot  state  the  exact  time,  and  saw  Col. 
King  there.  Giddins  said  he  had  some 
work  for  me  to  do,  and  showed  it  to  me. 
I  went  home  without  doing  it,  not  having 
my  tools  with  me. 

“ John  Jachson ,  sworn  —  In  the  fall  of 
1826, 1  lived  in  Lockport.  The  night  before 
the  installation,  I  stayed  at  the  house  of 


THE  ALLEGED  ABDUCTION. 


53 


Giddins,  my  brother-in-law.  I  went  to  the 
installation.  Don’t  know  whether  Giddins 
went.  Before  going  to  the  installation,  I 
went  with  Giddins  to  the  magazine.  Twenty 
or  thirty  minutes  previously  to  setting  out, 
Giddins  had  a  pistol.  He  requested  me  to 
take  it,  but  I  declined.  I  did  not  see  Gid¬ 
dins  lay  it  aside.  I  did  not  see  it  after  we 
left  the  house.  Giddins  carried  something 
with  him,  but  I  don’t  know  what.  I  went 
within  about  two  rods  of  the  magazine. 
Giddins  went  up  to  the  door.  I  don’t  know 
whether  it  was  opened  by  Giddins  or  not. 
Something  was  said  inside  the  door.  I 
heard  a  man’s  voice  not  uncommonly  loud, 
and  supposed  a  man  was  in  the  magazine. 
I  do  not  know  what  was  said,  nor  whether 
I  heard  the  voice  before  or  after  Giddins 
reached  the  door.  Thought  I  had  better 
be  missing,  and  immediately  went  away. 
Giddins  soon  followed  me.  I  started  in  ten 
or  twelve  minutes  for  Lewiston.  I  never 
had  any  conversation  with  either  of  the 
defendants  respecting  their  participation  in 
the  abduction  of  Morgan. 


54 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


“  William  Hotchkiss,  sworn — Three  or 
four  days  after  the  installation,  I  went  to 
the  fort  to  make  inquiries  respecting  a 
man’s  being  confined  there;  found  out 
nothing.  Did  not  go  to  the  magazine,  nor 
did  Giddins  while  I  was  there. 

“  This  was  the  last  witness  sworn  on 
behalf  of  the  prosecution.  They  had  called 
Edward  Giddins,  but  the  defendant’s  counsel 
objected  to  his  being  sworn,  because  he 
had  no  religious  belief  whatever. 

“ After  hearing  the  testimony  respecting 
his  religious  opinions,  and  the  arguments 
of  counsel  on  both  sides,  the  court  unani¬ 
mously  decided  that  he  was  not  a  competent 
witness. 

“  Upon  the  close  of  the  testimony  as 
above,  Mr.  Whiting  stated  that  the  bill 
against  Turner  and  Darrow,  two  of  the 
defendants,  had  been  found  on  the  testi¬ 
mony  of  Giddins  alone,  and  that,  his  testi¬ 
mony  having  been  excluded,  the  prosecution 
had  no  evidence  whatever  against  them. 

“  Mr.  Adams  addressed  the  jury  in  behalf 
of  Bruce,  and  Mr.  Mosely  for  the  people. 


THE  ALLEGED  ABDUCTION. 


55 


The  jury  retired  at  nine  o’clock  on  Friday 
evening,  after  receiving  a  charge  from  His 
Honor  Judge  Howell;  and,  having  been 
absent  about  three  hours,  returned  a  verdict 
of  guilty  against  Bruce,  and  not  guilty  in 
favor  of  Turner  and  D arrow.* 

“  The  court,  however,  suspended  sentence 
against  Bruce,  his  counsel  having  taken 
exception  in  points  to  be  passed  upon  by 
the  Supreme  Court.” 

On  the  15th  of  June,  1830,  a  special 
circuit  was  held  in  Niagara  County,  by 
Justice  Marcy,  of  the  Supreme  Court,  at 
which  Ezekiel  Jewett,  and  Jeremiah  Brown 
were  tried,  and  both  acquitted. 

In  November,  1830,  James  Gillis  was 
tried  and  acquitted. 

Judge  Nelson  held  a  special  circuit  in 
Niagara  County,  March,  1831,  at  which 
Elisha  Adams,  Parkhurst  Whitney,  Noah 
Beach,  Samuel  M.  Chuhbuck,  Timothy 
ShawT,  Norman  Shepard,  and  William  Miller 
were  tried,  and,  though  the  most  superhu¬ 
man  efforts  were  made  by  anti-masonic 


50 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


prosecutors  and  persecutors,  none  of  them 
were  convicted. 

The  final  trial  in  the  long  series  of  those 
accused  by  anti-masons,  as  being  connected 
in  some  manner  with  the  abduction  of 
Morgan,  was  that  of  Solomon  C.  Wright, 
who  had  been  indicted  for  perjury.  His 
trial  occurred  in  May,  1831,  and  of  course 
he  was  triumphantly  acquitted,  since  the 
evidence  against  him,  as  indeed  that  against 
most  of  the  others,  was  of  a  very  flimsy 
nature.  It  is  useless  for  anti-masonic  agita¬ 
tors  to  cry  out  against  the  courts,  since,  in 
all  these  trials,  there  were  able  and  impar¬ 
tial  men  upon  the  bench,  and  the  very  best 
of  legal  talent  combined  in  the  prosecution. 


CHAPTER  IY. 


REGARDING  THE  ALLEGED  DISCOVERY  OF 

Morgan’s  body. 


AFTER  the  convictions  of  Chesebro  and 
others  at  Canandaigua,  public  excite¬ 
ment  increased  more  and  more,  and  a 
meeting  or  convention  was  held  at  Lewis¬ 
ton,  in  the  winter  of  1827,. at  which  commit¬ 
tees  were  appointed,  not  only  to  prosecute 
all  suspected  parties,  but  also  to  search  for 
the  body  of  Morgan,  who  was  alleged  to  have 
been  drowned  in  the  Niagara  river.  The 
committee  appointed  for  the  latter  purpose, 
during  the  spring  of  1827,  pursued  their 
inquiries  with  great  diligence.  Boats  were 
chartered,  a  vessel  hired,  and  instruments 
constructed  for  the  purpose  of  aiding  and 
assisting  in  these  researches.  The  Niagara 
river  and  a  part  of  Lake  Ontario,  near  Fort 
Niagara,  were  raked  with  great  industry 


58 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


and  exertion  for  a  number  of  months,  all, 
however,  to  no  effect.  The  search  was 
finally  abandoned,  and  it  was  generally  con¬ 
ceded  that  the  same  mystery  which  had 
hitherto  hung  over  Morgan’s  fate  would 
forever  thereafter  conceal  his  mortal  re¬ 
mains.  While  the  public  expectations  of 
the  anti-masons  were  thus  disappointed,  on 
on  the  7th  of  October,  1827,  the  body  of  a 
stranger  was  found  in  the  town  of  Carlton, 
in  the  County  of  Orleans,  about  forty  miles 
from  Fort  Niagara.  It  was  lying  at  the 
water’s  edge,  where  it  had  evidently  been 
cast  by  the  surf.  A  coroner  was  sent  for, 
an  inquest  was  held,  witnesses  who  were 
personally  acquainted  with  Morgan  were 
examined,  and  the  verdict  of  a  jury  pro¬ 
nounced  it  the  body  of  some  person  to  them 
unknown,  who  had  perished  by  drowning. 
Being  at  that  time  in  a  putrid  state,  and 
very  offensive,  it  was  immediately  buried. 
The  coroner’s  inquest  was  immediately  pub¬ 
lished  in  various  newspapers,  and  suspicions 
were  at  once  excited  that  the  body  thus 
found  and  interred  was  the  body  of  Morgan. 


THE  ALLEGED  DISCOVERY. 


59 


An  important  election  was  then  approach¬ 
ing.  Unprincipled  and  designing  men, 
belonging  to  the  anti-masonic  party,  who 
had  witnessed  the  effect  of  popular  excite¬ 
ment  on  former  occasions,  saw  the  necessity 
of  some  powerful  auxiliary,  and  concerted 
a  plan  for  bringing  this  circumstance  to 
their  aid. 

Suspicions  that  this  was  Morgan’s  body, 
by  a  little  exertion,  soon  became  prevalent 
throughout  the  country.  Nor  is  it  singular 
that  this  should  have  been  the  case.  It 
is  true  that  nearly  thirteen  months  had 
elapsed  since  Morgan’s  alleged  abduction, 
and  the  state  of  preservation  in  which  this 
body  confessedly  was  indicated  death  at  a 
much  more  recent  period.  The  public  mind, 
however,  having  been  wrought  up  into  a 
frenzy  by  anti-masonic  agitators,  was  not 
in  fit  condition  to  judge  impartially.  Rea¬ 
son  had  lost  her  empire,  and  prejudice  and 
passion  had  usurped  her  place.  The  slightest 
evidence,  though  contradicted  by  unques¬ 
tionable  proofs,  and  though  opposed,  as  in 
this  case,  even  by  nature’s  law,  and  in  itself 


60 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


altogether  improbable,  became  equivalent 
to  perfect  demonstration.  In  this  state  of 
the  public  mind,  several  parties  from  Roch¬ 
ester  and  Batavia,  on  Saturday,  the  12th 
day  of  October,  1827,  repaired  £o  the  grave. 
They  disinterred  and  examined  the  body, 
and  discovered,  or  pretended  to  have  dis¬ 
covered,  a  partial  resemblance  between  the 
body  in  question  and  that  of  Morgan. 
They  caused  it  to  be  watched  and  guarded 
with  the  utmost  care  till  the  Monday  follow¬ 
ing,  to  present,  as  they  said,  the  Masons 
from  taking  it  away.  During  the  interval 
which  elapsed  between  Saturday  and  Mon¬ 
day,  a  variety  of  expedients  were  resorted 
to  for  effect.  Mrs.  Morgan,  then  residing 
in  Stafford,  was  visited  by  a  member  of 
the  Lewiston  committee.  Her  feelings, 
harrowed  up  by  frequent  and  contradictory 
reports,  gave  easy  entrance  to  a  tale  which 
bore  on  its  face  the  appearance  of  plausi¬ 
bility,  and  which  she  probably  thought 
might,  in  the  end,  lead  to  certainty,  and 
give  to  her  agitated  mind  some  little  repose. 
Without  considering  for  a  moment  that 


THE  ALLEGED  DISCOVERY. 


61 


she  was  to  be  made  an  instrument  in  the 
hands  of  designing  men,  to  promote  their 
selfish  and  contemptible  ends,  she  placed 
herself  under  their  protection  and  accom¬ 
panied  them  to  Carlton.  Her  anxiety  on 
this  occasion  was  perfectly  natural,  and  it 
was  therefore  right  and  proper  that  she 
should,  if  possible,  be  satisfied  by  occular 
inspection  as  to  the  truth  or  falsehood  of 
the  current  rumor.  On  arriving  at  Carlton 
on  the  15th  of  October,  the  body  was 
slightly  and  imperfectly  examined.  Indeed, 
this  could  not  be  otherwise  since  it  was 
bloated,  entirely  black,  and  in  the  highest 
degree  offensive  to  sight  and  smell.  Its 
dress  did  not  correspond  with  anything 
which  she  or  they  had  seen  before,  and  the 
religious  tracts  in  the  pocket  staggered 
some  of  the  most  credulous.  There  was  not, 
in  fact,  k  single  circumstance,  either  in  the 
dress,  size,  shape,  color,  or  appearance  of 
the  body,  which  would  identify  it  as  Mor¬ 
gan’s.  Still,  the  managers  of  the  excite¬ 
ment  (one  of  them  being  the  now- venerable 
Thurlow  Weed),  having  carefully  watched 


62 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


the  current  of  public  opinion,  and  seeing  it 
begin  to  run  decidedly  in  their  favor,  and 
being  unwilling  that  so  useful  a  delusion 
should  be  immediately  dispelled,  contrived, 
as  will  appear  in  the  sequel,  to  give  this, 
one  of  the  most  infamous  frauds  ever  im¬ 
posed  on  man,  the  sanction  of  legal  authority. 
Had  the  inquiry  on  the  15th  of  October 
been  conducted  with  fairness  and  honesty ; 
had  it  been  the  desire  of  the  investigators 
to  arrive  at  the  truth;  had  the  two  Potters 
who  found  the  body,  who  were  acquainted 
with  Morgan,  and  had  been  examined  on 
the  first  inquest,  been  sworn  also  on  this ; 
had  Hinman  Holden,  of  Batavia,  a  member 
of  the  Lewiston  committee,  and  a  gentle¬ 
man  of  too  much  respectability  to  tamper 
with  his  oath  for  political  effect,  who  had 
seen  and  examined  the  body  on  the  13th 
of  October,  before  it  was  prepared  for  inspec¬ 
tion  by  the  deprivation  of  its  hair  and 
whiskers — had  he  been  present  and  been 
sworn;  had  Col.  Miller,  who  was  in  the 
habit  of  daily  intercourse  with  Morgan, 
given  his  opinion  on  oath;  had  Thurlow 


THE  ALLEGED  DISCOVERY. 


63 


Weed  and  Timothy  Fitch  been  called  on 
for  theirs ;  had  the  body  been  examined  in 
regard  to  its  size  and  length;  had  as  much 
pains  been  taken  to  elicit  as  to  conceal  the 
truth;  the  body  in  question  would  never 
have  been  palmed  off  as  Morgan’s  upon  a 
credulous  world.  The  jury,  however,  were 
not  apprised  of  these  preparations,  and,  in 
the  absence  of  all  testimony  calculated  to 
throw  any  light  whatever  upon  the  subject, 
save  the  solitary  opinion  of  Mrs.  Morgan 
and  two  or  three  others,  as  a  matter  of 
course,  found  a  verdict  as  they  did. 

The  testimony  taken  on  that  occasion, 
which  will  be  found  below,  having  excited 
almost  a  national  interest  at  the  time,  de¬ 
serves  an  attentive  perusal. 

“  Information  of  witnesses  severally  taken 
and  acknowledged,  on  behalf  of  the  people 
of  the  State  of  New  York,  and  touching 
the  death  of  an  unknown  person  found  in 
the  town  of  Carlton,  in  the  County  of 
Orleans,  on  the  shore  of  Lake  Ontario,  on 
the  15th  day  of  October,  in  the  year  of  our 
Lord,  1827,  before  Robert  M.  Brown,  Esq., 


64 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


r 


one  of  the  coroners  of  said  county,  on  an 
inquisition  then  and  there  taken,  on  view 
of  the  said  unknown  person  then  and  there 
being  dead,  as  follows : — 

“  Stillman  Hoxsie ,  being  sworn — found 
the  body  lying  on  the  face  with  his  head 
towards  the  shore,  a  week  ago  yesterday, 
between  eleven  and  twelve  o’clock.  Gave 
information  to  the  coroner  before  moving 
the  body.  Had  on  a  frock  coat,  black  vest 
and  pantaloons,  woolen  socks  and  shirt, 
handkerchief  cotton,  or  might  he  silk.  Did 
not  know  how  long  he  had  lain  there. 
Body  is  more  swollen  now,  and  blacker 
than  when  found,  particularly  in  the  face 
and  head. 

“  Lester  Beardsley ,  being  sworn — had 
viewed  the  head  of  the  body,  which  has  the 
appearance  of  William  Morgan;  the  shape 
of  the  head  is  the  same,  and  the  hair  is 
the  same;  knew  Morgan,  and  saw  him  in 
August  before  he  was  missing ;  the  ears  and 
the  appearance  about  the  ears  is  the  same. 
Morgan  showed  me  his  teeth;  he  had  what 


THE  ALLEGED  DISCOVERY. 


65 


is  called  double  teeth,  all  around,  and  the 
body  has  the  same.  No  teeth  were  gone 
four  years  since,  when  he  showed  them  to 
me.  Morgan’s  ears  were  filled  with  hair 
more  than  people  in  general,  which  was 
long  and  white ;  he  wore  no  whiskers.  His 
hair  was  long,  and  combed  up  to  cover 
his  baldness;  had  a  small  nose,  more  hair 
on  his  chest  than  people  in  general,  full 
chest,  light  blue  eyes,  lightish  complexion; 
his  height  was  similar  to  that  of  the  body; 
should  think  him  over  fifty  years  of  age. 
I  think  that  this  is  the  body  of  William 
Morgan. 

“Thurlow  Weed ,  sworn — saith  that  on 
the  15th  inst.  he  came  in  company  with 
other  gentlemen  from  Kochester,  to  view 
this  body;  that  in  consequence  of  its  being 
stated,  by  one  of  the  persons  who  was  well 
acquainted  with  Morgan,  that  his  ears  were 
full  of  long  white  hairs,  witness  examined 
the  ears  of  said  body  carefully,  when  he 
found  several  hairs,  long  and  white,  which 
came  out  upon  touching  them,  and  that  he 


66 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


found  a  large  number  of  said  hairs,  deposited 
in  a  mess  in  the  bottom  of  the  ear.  These 
hairs  correspond  with  those  represented  by 
Mr.  Fitch,  before  the  body  was  disinterred. 
Witness  does  not  recollect  anything  of  Mr. 
Morgan,  although  he  must  have  seen  him 
often. 

“ Lucinda  Morgan ,  being  sworn,  says — I 
am  the  wife  of  William  Morgan,  of  Batavia. 
I  saw  him  the  last  time,  the  11th  of  Sep¬ 
tember,  1826.  He  had  on  a  blue  coat,  vest 
and  pantaloons ;  the  pantaloons  were  of  differ¬ 
ent  cloth  from  the  coat  and  vest.  Should 
know  the  clothes  if  I  saw  them.  He  had  no 
flannel  shirt,  but  was  in  the  habit  of  wearing 
a  flannel  wrapper.  He  had  on  boots  and 
woollen  socks;  boots  old  and  worn,  think 
they  were  calf  skin.  Had  on  a  white  neck 
handkerchief,  and  linen  shirt.  Had  a  silk 
pocket  handkerchief,  something  worn.  He 
used  tobacco.  Have  seen  the  body,  and 
find  points  of  resemblance  between  it  and 
my  husband.  His  teeth,  his  hands,  his 
hair,  the  nails  on  his  fingers  and  toes  were 


THE  ALLEGED  DISCOVERY. 


67 


rimilar  to  those  of  the  body.  He  had  been 
inoculated  for  the  small-pox,  on  the  left 
arm.  Had  double  teeth  all  round.  Two 
teeth  were  gone,  and  one  was  split  off.  Dr. 
Strong  drew  two  teeth  for  him.  His  sus¬ 
penders  were  cotton  and  knit.  Coat  pockets 
were  lined  with  white,  vest  lined  with  the 
same  cloth  as  coat ;  lining  of  pantaloons  was 
white,  think  it  was  linen.  Morgan  was  bald 
on  the  top  of  his  head,  except  a  small  place 
in  the  centre,  where  there  was  fine  hair  like 
down.  The  teeth  were  gone  on  the  right 
side  of  the  upper  jaw.  I  have  no  doubt  but 
this  is  the  body  of  my  husband.  On  the 
joint  of  the  big  toe,  on  the  left  foot,  he  had 
been  frozen,  and  the  physician  cut  open  the 
flesh  and  scraped  the  bone,  which  left  the 
same  appearance  which  is  now  upon  the 
body.  He  had  a  good  deal  of  hair  on  his 
chest,  which  was  gray,  and  he  was  full 
breasted.  Never  had  a  broken  bone  to  my 
knowledge.  On  being  shown  the  clothes, 
I  can  recognize  no  part  of  them  as  the 
same  which  my  husband  had  on  when  he 
went  away,  nor  the  tracts.  The  hand- 


68 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


writing  I  cannot  swear  to,  though  one  or 
two  letters  somewhat  resemble  his.  I  am 
fully  convinced  in  my  own  mind  that  this 
is  the  body  of  William  Morgan. 

“D.  G.  Miller ,  being  sworn — Said  that  he 
knew  William  Morgan,  and  had  partly 
examined  the  body.  Did  not  know  that 
Morgan  had  double  teeth,  or  that  he  had 
lost  two  teeth.  His  dress  when  he  went 
away  was  a  blue  frock  coat,  blue  vest 
and  pantaloons.  My  impression  is  that 
he  was  entirely  bald  on  the  top  of  his 
head.  Think  he  had  no  boots.  He  was 
fifty  years  of  age  or  over.  He  had  a  habit 
of  drawing  his  hair  over  his  head  with  his 
hands,  when  in  conversation. 

“  George  W.  Harris ,  being  duly  sworn — 
Says  that  he  knew  William  Morgan,  and 
has  seen  the  body.  Morgan  shaved  at  my 
glass,  and  shaved  higher  than  any  man  I 
ever  saw.  The  body  has  been  shaved  up  to 
the  eyes,  does  not  know  particularly  about 
his  hair.  Saw  him  the  day  he  was  taken 
away,  and  knew  him  more  than  one  year 


THE  ALLEGED  DISCOVERY. 


69 


previous.  His  dress  was  a  blue  frock  coat, 
blue  vest  and  pantaloons,  and  old  boots. 
The  size  and  shape  of  Morgan’s  fingers  and 
finger  nails  were  same  as  the  body’s.  Mor¬ 
gan  had  a  double  chin,  and  I  think  the 
body  has  a  double  chin.  He  had  a  fine  set 
of  teeth,  and  had  lost  some,  which  showed 
when  he  grated  his  teeth  or  laughed.  He 
had  an  extreme  full  chest ;  his  bosom  was 
quite  hairy  and  gray;  the  color  of  the  hair 
was  the  same  as  that  on  the  body.  Morgan 
had  a  lump  towards  the  top  of  his  head, 
which  I  think  I  observed  on  the  body.  He 
was  not  far  from  fifty  years  of  age ;  I  think 
about  five  feet  eight  inches  high.  He  had 
a  tapering  arm,  and  a  small  wrist.  I  am 
fully  satisfied  this  is  the  body  of  William 
Morgan.  He  had  a  short  nose,  was  a  brick¬ 
layer,  lived  over  my  shop,  was  agitated  for 
some  time,  when  talking,  before  he  was 
taken  away. 

uWm.  W.  Morgan ,  being  sworn — Says 
that  he  was  acquainted  with  Wm.  Morgan. 
His  head,  his  beard,  and  the  hair  upon  his 


70 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


breast  resembled  this  body,  and  the  make 
of  his  features  were  similar.  Do  not 
recollect  anything  about  his  teeth.  Was 
acquainted  with  him  two  years  ago,  last 
February,  and  from  that  time  since  until 
he  was  missing.  I  was  absent  from  Bat¬ 
avia  about  nine  months,  but  saw  Morgan 
frequently. 

“  Bussell  Dyer ,  being  sworn — Says  he 
knew  William  Morgan,  and  has  seen  this 
body;  thinks  it  is  the  body  of  William 
Morgan.  The  shape  of  the  head  and  the 
hair  are  similar,  he  had  double  teeth,  one 
tooth  broken  or  split,  and  one  gone  in  the 
upper  jaw.  I  mentioned,  when  I  first  heard 
the  Coroner’s  report,  that  if  the  teeth  were 
gone  in  the  lower  jaw,  it  could  not  be  Mor¬ 
gan.  Think  I  saw  Morgan  a  year  ago  last 
August.  I  boarded  with  him.  He  was  fifty- 
one  years  of  age,  as  he  informed  me  about 
three  years  ago.  I  have  no  doubt  but  this 
is  the  body  of  William  Morgan.  He  had 
hair  about  the  breast,  and  a  gray  beard. 

“  Dr.  Ezra  Strong ,  being  sworn — Says 
that  he  knew  William  Morgan  four  years 


THE  ALLEGED  DISCOVERY. 


71 


ago,  from  April  to  September  in  the  next 
year.  Morgan  and  his  wife  boarded  at  my 
house  about  six  months.  He  was  sick  much 
of  the  time,  with  sore  eyes.  I  attended  him 
two  or  three  months,  sometimes  with  other 
physicians.  I  think,  from  the  upper  part  of 
the  head  of  this  body,  it  is  the  body  of 
William  Morgan.  I  extracted  two  teeth 
for  him,  which  I  find  charged  in  my  book 
against  him;  don’t  recollect  from  which 
side  they  were  taken.  Morgan  had  a  heavy 
beard,  and  much  hair  on  his  breast.  One 
other  tooth  was  broken  off.  If  a  body  had 
been  floating  about  since  Morgan  was  miss¬ 
ing,  it  would  putrify  more  than  this,  but  if 
it  had  been  under  water  it  might  have  been 
better  preserved. 

“  Dr.  John  D.  Henry ,  being  sworn — Says 
he  knew  William  Morgan  when  he  resided 
in  Rochester ;  I  attended  him  as  a  physician ; 
I  do  not  recollect  any  strong  mark  which 
would  distinguish  him  as  this  body ;  he  had 
inflamed  eyes,  and  I  prescribed  for  him 
nearly  nine  months.  I  knew  his  hair,  but 
cannot  identify  him  by  that,  to  my  own 


72 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


satisfaction.  I  remembered  bis  whiskers 
and  shaved  them  frequently;  he  had  fine 
teeth  in  front ;  the  teeth  of  the  body  appear 
as  I  should  suppose  the  teeth  of  Morgan 
would  appear.  The  shape  of  his  head, 
though  bloated  much,  is  much  the  same 
as  Morgan’s.  I  should  be  unwilling  to  say 
it  was  Morgan’s  or  that  it  was  not,  though 
his  teeth,  the  shape  of  his  head,  and  the 
hair  resemble  Morgan’s. 

“  All  the  above  informations  were  sever¬ 
ally  taken  and  acknowledged,  the  15th  day 
of  October,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  twenty-seven, 
in  the  town  of  Carlton,  county  and  State 

aforesaid.  i\/r  -o 

Bobert  M.  Brown, 

Coroner . 


“  Orleans  County,  ss.  An  inquisition  in¬ 
dented  and  taken  for  the  people  of  the 
State  of  New  York,  at  the  town  of  Carlton, 
in  the  County  of  Orleans  aforesaid,  in  the 
open  air,  on  the  shore  of  Lake  Ontario,  in 
said  county  and  town,  the  15th  day  of 
October,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thou- 


THE  ALLEGED  DISCOVERY. 


73 


sand  eight  hundred  and  twenfcy-seven, 
before  me,  Robert  M.  Brown,  Gentleman, 
one  of  the  Coroners  of  the  said  State,  for 
the  county  aforesaid ;  upon  the  view  of  the 
body  of  William  Morgan,  then  and  there 
lying  dead  upon  the  earth,  of  John  Archer, 
Silas  Joy,  Snell  Joy,  W. Williams,  Matthew 
Dunham,  John  Barnum,  R. Wilcox,  Rodney 
Parish,  John  H.  Tyler,  Asa  Simpson,  Asa 
Kimball,  I.  Hall,  Stephen  Jennings,  Richard 
Barry,  Ebenezer  Handy,  Abel  Barnum, 
John  Murdock,  Samuel  Baldwin,  Asahel 
Byington,  Reuben  Scofield,  Jesse  Hall, 
James  Taft,  and  Lyman  G.  Hoxsie;  good 
and  lawful  men  of  the  said  county,  who 
being  sworn  and  charged  to  enquire  on  the 
part  of  the  people  of  the  State  of  New  York 
aforesaid,  when,  where,  how,  and  after  what 
manner  the  said  William  Morgan  came  to 
his  death,  do  say,  upon  their  oaths  afore¬ 
said,  that  the  said  William  Morgan  came 
to  his  death  by  suffocation  by  drowning, 
and  so  the  said  jurors  aforesaid  do  say  he, 
the  said  William  Morgan,  came  to  his  death. 
— In  witness  whereof,  as  well  the  said 


74 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


Coroner,  as  the  jurors  aforesaid,  have  to 
their  inquisition  s‘et  their  hands  and  seals, 
the  day  and  year  aforesaid,  at  the  place 

afoiesaid.  “ Samuel  Baldwin, 

4 ‘Robert  M.  Brown,  Foreman 

Coroner 


When  the  above  testimony  is  contrasted 
with  that  taken  on  the  third  inquest,  the 
fallacy  of  the  verdict  cannot  but  strike  even 
the  most  casual  observer. 

Notwithstanding  its  absurdity,  however, 
it  was  generally  believed,' and  the  body  (its 
identity  being,  as  it  was  now  supposed,  fully 
established  by  legal  proof)  was  afterwards 
removed  with  great  parade  to  the  village  of 
Batavia,  and  there  buried  in  the  presence 
of  a  multitude,  who  had  flocked  thither  to 
witness  the  services.  A  funeral  discourse 
was  afterwards  delivered  by  one  John 
Cochran,  who,  when  sober,  and  sometimes 
when  otherwise,  occasionally  preached  in 
the  vicinity  of  Batavia,  at  the  same  time 
acting  as  assistant  editor  to  D.  C.  Miller. 


THE  ALLEGED  DISCOVERY. 


75 


When,  shortly  after,  the  remains  of 
Joseph  Ellicott,  agent  at  Batavia  for  the 
Holland  Land  Company,  were  brought  from 
the  city  of  New  York,  for  burial,  no  gaping 
crowd  followed  the  hearse,  no  one  spoke  a 
word  of  sympathy,  or  pronounced  his 
requiem.  He  had  been  singled  out  by  the 
anti-masons  as  a  mark  for  venom  and  slan¬ 
der,  and  his  burial  gave  the  clans  another 
opportunity  to  vent  their  spleen.  Not  so 
in  the  present  instance.  Glad  tidings  of 
great  joy  were  sounded  throughout  the 
land.  Morgan  is  found,  was  at  once  the 
theme  of  every  tongue.  Providence,  it  was 
said,  had  interposed  its  aid,  and  Heaven 
laid  bare  its  outstretched  arm  to  avenge 
his  death,  not  upon  the  guilty  perpetrators 
only,  but  as  well  upon  the  whole  Masonic 
fraternity. 

The  already  excited  bosoms  of  the  anti- 
masonic  clans  received  new  impulse,  and 
future  triumphs  were  rung  in  every  ear. 
The  cry  of  vengeance  was  wafted  on  every 
breeze,  mingling  with  every  echo  returning 


76 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


from  the  Lake,  where  Morgan’s  ghost,  it 
was  said,  performed  its  nightly  rounds. 

A  voice  from  Canada,  however,  soon 
afterward  dispelled  the  general  anti-masonic 
joy.  It  was  at  first  a  still,  small  voice.  The 
voice  of  an  afflicted  widow  and  her  father¬ 
less  children  interposing  their  claim  to  the 
last  relics  of  a  deceased  husband  and  father. 
Their  pretensions,  for  a  while,  were  treated 
with  levity  by  the  anti-masonic  party,  and 
by  some  they  were  personally  insulted  and 
abused.  This,  however,  was  only  another 
exhibition  of  the  intolerant  vindictiveness  of 
the  class.  It  was  not  very  long,  however, 
before  prejudice  and  passion  were  obliged 
to  retreat  at  the  approach  of  truth.  Con¬ 
clusive  evidence  established  the  justice  of 
the  demand  of  the  widow  and  fatherless, 
and  an  insulted  community  ratified  the 
verdict. 

A  notice  first  appeared  in  the  Canada 
newspapers  that  one,  Timothy  Monro,  of 
the  township  of  Clark,  in  the  district  of 
Newcastle,  in  Upper  Canada,  left  that  place 
in  September,  1827,  for  Newark,  in  a  small 


THE  ALLEGED  DISCOVERY. 


77 


boat,  and  was  drowned  in  the  Niagara  river 
while  attempting  to  return.  A  partial  de¬ 
scription  of  the  body  found  at  Carlton, 
together  with  the  clothes  and  religious 
tracts  found  in  the  pocket  of  the  deceased, 
having  been  published  in  the  newspapers  in 
the  vicinity  §oon  after  the  first  inquest,  and 
coming  to  the  knowledge  of  Monro’s  sur¬ 
viving  friends,  induced  a  belief  that  the 
body  found  in  Carlton  could  be  no  other 
than  his.  Mrs.  Sarah  Monro  therefore, 
widow  of  the  deceased,  accompanied  by  her 
son  and  a  friend  named  John  Cron,  imme¬ 
diately  after  the  receipt  of  this  intelligence, 
went  to  the  County  of  Orleans,  in  order  to 
examine  it,  and  to  satisfy  herself  of  its 
identity. 

On  their  arrival  at  Gaines,  and  before  the 
clothes  had  been  exhibited  for  her  inspec¬ 
tion,  she  was  called  upon  by  Bates  Cook, 
Esq.,  and  other  members  of  the  Lewiston 
committee,  to  describe  them.  She  did  so 
and  in  a  manner  which  carried  conviction 
with  it.  Some  of  them  had  been  made  up 
in  a  manner  rather  unusual.  Some  of  them 


78 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


had  been  mended,  and  the  stockings  had 
been  darned,  all  of  which  she  minutely 
described.  Some  particular  marks  had  es¬ 
caped  the  committee’s  scrutinizing  eyes; 
these  she  mentioned,  and  among  other 
things  that  a  piece  had  been  sewed  on  at 
the  bottom  of  one  side  of  one  leg  of  the 
pantaloons,  which  gave  it  the  appearance 
of  a  wide  hem;  she  described  the  lining, 
the  pockets,  and  even  the  minutest  marks. 

The  clothes,  on  their  subsequent  produc¬ 
tion  (they  having,  during  all  the  time 
which  had  elapsed  since  their  discovery, 
been  in  possession  of  the  committee),  exhib¬ 
ited  all  the  marks  so  particularly  described 
by  her,  and  which  could  only  have  been 
known  to  the  person  who  had  made  or 
mended,  or  closely  examined  them.  Her 
statement  was  confirmed  by  Daniel  Monro, 
her  son,  who,  in  addition  thereto,  stated 
that  he  purchased  the  cloth  for  the  pan¬ 
taloons,  and  that  the  pattern  was  rather 
scanty,  which  accounted  for  the  pantaloons 
being  thus  spliced.  John  Cron  also  testified 
that  he  saw  Monro  on  the  day  that  he  was 


THE  ALLEGED  DISCOVERY. 


79 


drowned,  in  clothes  similar  to  those  des¬ 
cribed,  and  that  he  saw  him  have  religious 
tracts,  which  he  at  the  time  put  into  his 
pocket.  Under  any  other  circumstances, 
the  above  facts  would  have  silenced  incred¬ 
ulity  itself.  It  was  thought  proper,  how¬ 
ever,  that  other  proof  should  be  adduced, 
in  order  not  only  to  place  the  matter 
beyond  the  reach  of  controversy,  but  to  ex¬ 
pose  the  former  deception. 

For  that  purpose,  a  Coroner’s  inquest  was 
called,  and  a  jury  impaneled  at  Batavia, 
on  the  29th  of  October,  1827.  The  body 
buried  as  Morgan’s  was  disinterred,  and  the 
evidence  detailed  below  submitted  to  their 
consideration.  They  decided  upon  oath 
that  it  was  the  body  of  Timothy  Monro, 
who  had  been  accidentally  drowned  in  Lake 
Ontario,  on  the  26th  of  September  then 
preceding. 

Hinman  Holden,  of  Batavia,  a  witness  on 
this  occasion,  was  a  gentleman  of  the 
highest  respectability.  He  was  for  a  long 
time  a  member  of  the  Morgan  committee, 
and  anti-masons  cannot  charge  him  with 


80 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


the  slightest  leaning  towards  Masonic  favor. 
He  saw  the  body  before  the  second  inquest, 
and  ever  afterward  expressed  his  opinion, 
without  fear  or  favor,  that  it  was  not  the 
body  of  Morgan.  It  will  be  observed,  by 
referring  to  his  testimony,  that  he  speaks 
particularly,  and  with  confidence,  of  the 
hair  on  the  head,  and  the  whiskers.  Six 
other  witnesses,  four  of  whom  are  not 
Masons,  testify  to  the  same  fact.  The 
Coroner  himself,  was  not  a  Mason,  and  but 
three  out  of  the  twenty-four  jurors.  Some 
dissented,  it  appears,  from  the  verdict,  by 
voting  in  blank,  not  because  they  believed 
the  body  was  Morgan’s  but  because  they 
had  some  doubts  about  its  being  Monro’s. 
The  inquest,  however,  it  will  be  observed, 
was  taken  at  a  time  when  reason  could  no 
more  be  heard  than  a  whisper  in  a  hurri¬ 
cane.  It  was  taken,  too,  at  a  place  where 
prejudice  had  perverted  the  greater  part  of 
the  public  mind,  and  where  opinions  formed 
without  proof,  had  been  confidently  ex¬ 
pressed  even  by  some  of  the  jurors.  The 
conduct  of  “  the  managers”  in  relation  to 


THE  ALLEGED  DISCOVERY. 


81 


the  body  of  Monro,  evinces  perhaps,  more 
of  the  actual  depravity  of  anti-masonry 
than  any  other  transaction  connected  with 
the  excitement,  and  has  left  a  stain  upon 
their  characters,  which  time  has  never 
effaced. 

We  do  not,  however,  intend  by  this  to 
criminate  all  the  Morgan  Committee,  as 
there  were  some  honorable  exceptions  among 
them. 

In  this  connectiom,  a  regard  for  justice 
and  historic  truth,  require  some  further 
statements  respecting  the  second  inquest 
on  the  body  of  Monro.  It  was,  or  rather 
would  have  been  at  any  other  time,  singular 
that  persons  employed  by  their  fellow 
citizens,  to  investigate  the  truth,  whose 
end  was  justice,  should  have  withheld  from 
the  second  jury,  the  testimony  which  would 
at  once  have  dispelled  the  illusion,  and  all 
for  political  effect.  In  other  words  it  was 
triumphantly  remarked  by  one  of  their 
number  (Thurlow  Weed),  that  they  had 
made  u  a  good  Morgan  enough  till  after 
election.”  It  was  also  equally  singular  that 


82 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


men  pretending  to  respectability,  did  not, 
if  they  were  themselves  at  first  deceived, 
in  case  they  were  honest,  when  they  after¬ 
wards  became  satisfied  of  their  error,  en¬ 
deavor  to  atone  for  the  wrong  they  had 
done,  by  some  public  declaration.  Instead, 
however,  of  doing  this  act  of  justice  to 
those  whom  they  had  insulted  and  abused, 
they  followed  out  the  true  and  despicable 
spirit  of  anti-masonry,  and  persisted  in  the 
repetition  of  their  contemptible  assertions. 

A  more  gross  and  infamous  deception 
was  never  practiced  on  the  world.  Nothing 
short  of  the  most  childish  credulity  on  the 
one  part,  and  the  most  abandoned  profligacy 
on  the  other,  would  have  induced  “the 
managers”  to  hazard  so  bold  an  experiment, 
and  nothing  short  of  the  most  servile 
homage  to  those  “managers,”  could  have 
insured  its  success.  And  even  at  the  present 
time  there  are  men  who  have  the  shameless¬ 
ness  to  repeat,  that  the  body  of  William 
Morgan,  was  buried  from  the  house  of 
another  traitor  to  his  Masonic  oaths,  one 
Samuel  D.  Greene. 


THE  ALLEGED  DISCOVERY. 


83 


But  we  leave  these  unblushing  frauds  to 
their  own  ignoble  misrepresentations,  and 
proceed  to  “Mrs.  Monro’s  affidavit,  made 
and  subscribed  after  her  examination  by 
Bates  Cook,  Esq.,  and  the  box  with  the 
clothing,  brought  forward. 

“Orleans  County,  ss. — Sarah  Monro ,  of 
the  township  of  Clark,  district  of  Newcastle, 
Upper  Canada,  aged  44  years,  being  duly 
sworn,  deposeth  and  saith,  that  she  is  the 
widow  of  Timothy  Monro,  late  of  the  same 
place,  now  deceased,  that  she  was  married 
to  said  Monro  24  years  since — that  about 
six  weeks  since,  her  husband,  the  said 
Timothy  Monro,  left  home  for  Newark,  and 
has  never  returned,  and  that  she  has  un¬ 
derstood  and  been  informed  that  he  was 
drowned  in  the  Niagara  river,  in  the  latter 
part  of  September  last  past ;  and  this  depo¬ 
nent  further  saith  that  the  clothes  now 
produced  by  Bates  Cook,  Esq.,  and  which 
are  said  to  have  been  found  on  the  body  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Oak  Orchard  Creek,  are 
the  clothes  which  her  late  husband  wore 
when  he  last  left  home,  and  that  he  carried 


84 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


no  change  of  clothes  away  from  home  with 
him.  This  deponent  further  saith,  that  she 
cut,  and  made  the  pantaloons  and  vest,  and 
that  the  surtout  coat  was  cut  and  made  by 
Mrs.  Perkins,  a  neighbor  of  hers — that  she 
cut  and  made  the  shirt,  and  that  she  knows 
these  now  produced  are  the  same  worn  by 
her  said  husband.  And  the  deponent  fur¬ 
ther  saith,  that  the  stockings  now  produced 
by  said  Bates  Cook,  Esq.,  were  purchased 
by  her  husband  when  he  was  absent  from 
home,  but  that  she  has  mended  the  same, 
and  knows  them  to  be  the  same  which  her 
said  husband  wore,  when  he  last  left  home, 
that  she  had  mended  the  surtout  coat  and 
pantaloons,  and  can  identify  them  by  the 
places  and  manner  of  their  being  mended. 
And  the  deponent  further  saith,  that  no 
person  has  ever  given  her  any  description 
of  the  clothing  which  was  found  upon  the 
dead  body,  at  the  mouth  of  Oak  Orchard 
Creek,  and  that  the  particular  description 
given  by  her  before  seeing  the  clothes,  was 
given  from  her  recollection  and  knowledge 
of  them,  derived  in  consequence  of  having 


THE  ALLEGED  DISCOVERY. 


85 


made  and  repeatedly  mended  and  seen 
them. 

“ Daniel  Monro ,  a  son  of  the  deceased, 
swore  that  the  clothes  are  the  same  which 
his  father  wore  when  he  left  home  in  Sep¬ 
tember  last — and  also  stated  facts  con¬ 
nected  with  the  purchase  and  making  of 
them. 

“  John  Cron  swore  that  he  saw  Monro 
the  day  he  was  drowned,  and  that  he  had 
on  clothes  similar  to  those  now  produced, 
that  he  saw  Monro  have  some  tracts  or 
pamphlets,  which  he  put  in  his  pocket  at 
the  same  time. 

“Hinman  Holden,  (a  member  of  the  Mor¬ 
gan  committee,  of  Batavia)  sworn — Said 
that  he,  with  Timothy  Fitch,  Esq.,  first 
saw  the  body  at  the  mouth  of  Oak  Orchard 
Creek,  on  the  13th  of  October  last.  It  was 
disinterred.  Witness  examined  the  body 
particularly,  but  could  not  discern  any 
natural  features.  The  head  was  bald  on 
the  crown,  and  a  bald  streak  ran  down  each 
side  to  the  forehead.  On  the  top  of  the 


86 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


head  there  was  a  tuft  of  hair,  which  he 
supposed  grew  there.  The  body  had  one 
whisker  on,  and  it  was  apparant  the  other 
was  either  slipped  or  pulled  off.  The  whis¬ 
ker  was  quite  gray.  Thought  the  whisker 
had  been  sandy.  The  hair  on  the  head 
was  considerably  grayish.  A  lock  of  hair 
was  brought  to  Batavia.  Timothy  Fifcch 
was  present,  and  we  thought  the  hair  too  dark 
for  Morgan’s;  but  upon  Mrs.  Morgan  stat¬ 
ing  how  it  was,  we  thought  it  might  be 
Morgan’s.  Mrs.  Morgan  was  much  affected 
at  the  sight  of  the  hair,  and  thought  it  was 
her  husband’s.  There  certainly  was  a  tuft 
of  hair  between  the  bald  spot  on  the  crown 
of  the  head  and  the  forehead,  on  the  body 
which  we  examined  on  the  13th.  Miller 
and  others  at  Batavia,  informed  me  that 
Morgan  was  wholly  bald  on  the  top  of  his 
head.  I  saw  particularly,  a  bald  spot  on 
each  side  of  the  head.  I  charged  the  per¬ 
sons  who  went  down  the  second  time,  to 
see  if  the  hair  was  turned  up.  At  the  time, 
I  supposed  the  hair  grew  on  the  head,  and 
still  believe  so.  On  the  examination  I  at 


THE  ALLEGED  DISCOVERY. 


87 


first  thought  it  was  Morgan,  but  afterwards 
thought  it  was  not.  On  hearing  a  descrip¬ 
tion  of  Morgan’s  head,  I  was  more  strongly 
impressed  with  the  belief  that  it  was  not 
Morgan.  I  could  see  nothing  but  the  color 
of  the  hair  and  the  shape  of  the  forehead 
which  induced  me  to  believe  that  it  was 
Morgan,  and  if  it  had  not  been  suggested 
to  be  Morgan’s,  I  did  not  know  enough 
about  him  to  have  said  or  thought  it  was 
his  body. 

“Dr.  H.  Vinton ,  sworn — Said  that  he 
saw  the  body  at  the  mouth  of  the  Oak  Or¬ 
chard  Creek,  when  the  second  inquest  was 
held.  The  head  was  bald  on  the  top,  but 
had  a  very  considerable  quantity  of  hair 
between  the  bald  spot  and  the  forehead. 
The  head  was  not  entirely  bald  on  the 
sides.  I  started  the  hair  from  the  forehead, 
and  knew  that  it  grew  there.  It  was  not 
mere  scattering  hail  on  the  top  of  the  head, 
there  was  quite  a  handful.  The  hair  of  the 
tuft  was  quite  long.  Knows  that  the  hair 
grew  on  the  top  of  the  head.  Cannot  be 


88 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


mistaken  about  it.  After  starting  the  hair 
I  put  it  back 

“  Dr.  Hall ,  sworn — Saw  the  body  before 
it  was  buried  the  first  time.  The  hair 
covered  the  forehead  and  continued  back. 
There  was  a  bald  place  on  the  crown,  and 
a  bald  place  on  each  side  as  far  back  as  the 
middle  of  the  ears,  hair  on  the  top  of  the 
head  as  thick  as  my  own.  Witness  took 
hold  of  it,  there  was  a  dispute  about  its 
being  Morgan,  and  I  examined  it  particu¬ 
larly  ;  the  hair  grew  there,  and  would  require 
pulling  to  get  it  out.  I  was  on  the  first 
jury.  Some  said  he  (Morgan)  turned  the 
hair  from  the  back  part  of  the  head,  over 
the  baldness  on  top ;  we  therefore  examined 
the  hair  on  the  top  of  this  body’s  head,  to 
see  if  it  grew  there  or  was  merely  turned 
over;  we  found  that  it  grew  there.  No 
one  of  the  jurymen  examined  his  eyes ;  the 
body  had  a  good  set  of  teeth,  and  some 
whiskers ;  had  lost  two  teeth,  and  had  one 
broken.  When  the  body  was  taken  up  the 
second  time,  the  hair  from  the  top  of  the 
head  w7as  gone,  could  see  where  it  had 


THE  ALLEGED  DISCOVERY. 


89 


been.  I  saw  it,  and  Dr.  Strong  saw  it,  I 
showed  it  to  him  and  he  saw  it,  but  he  did 
not  admit  it  only  by  general  consent.  When 
I  was  showing  it  to  him,  a  man  came  up 
and  said  Morgan  had  hair  on  the  top  of  his 
head.  We  thought  at  first  we  could  see  a 
scar  on  the  forehead;  but  concluded  that 
the  mark  was  occasioned  by  lying  on  cobble 
stones.  We  saw  no  mark  on  the  arms, 
which  were  of  a  chocolate  color.  We  could 
probably  have  seen  the  marks  of  India 
ink  or  gunpowder,  if  such  marks  were  upon 
them. 

“Moses  Wood,  Daniel  English,  and  the 
two  Potters  (who  first  found  the  body), 
corroborated  the  above  testimony  of  Holden, 
Yinton,  and  Hall. 

“The  body  interred  was  measured  by  the 
Coroner,  and  was  found  to  be  five  feet  nine 
and  a  half  inches;  and  Dr.  Yan  Tuyl  (one 
of  the  jurymen)  swore  that  in  his  belief,  if 
the  body  had  been  properly  extended,  ik 
would  have  measured  an  inch  more. 


90 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


“Mr.  Parmelee  and  Dr.  Webster  (members 
of  the  jury)  concurred  with  Dr.  Van  Tuyl 
in  the  above  testimony. 

“ Elisha  Parmelee  (a  juror),  sworn — Saw 
the  measurement  with  the  two-foot  rule, 
and  think  it  was  accurate.  Should  think  the 
body,  if  straightened  out,  would  measure 
5  feet  10^  or  11  inches;  knew  the  body 
was  somewhat  bent  when  the  Coroner  took 
the  measurement. 

“Dr.  Webster  (a  juror),  saw  the  measure¬ 
ment  by  Mr.  Waldo,  with  the  long  stick, 
which  he  thought  was  not  put  low  enough 
to  the  bottom  of  the  foot  by  half  an  inch; 
but  supposed  it  immaterial,  supposing  that 
the  jury  were  to  rely  on  the  two-foot, 
measurement  of  the  Coroner.  Saw  and 
remarked  that  the  measure  was  not  down 
far  enough. 

“  Thomas  McCully  swore  that  he  was 
well  acquainted  with  Morgan ;  that  he  was 
so  near  his  height  that  he  was  frequently 
taken  for  him  when  his  back  was  turned. 
He  measured  himself,  5  feet  6  inches,  and 


THE  ALLEGED  DISCOVERY. 


91 


weighed  from  133  to  137  pounds.  Daniel 
H.  Chandler,  Ethan  B.  Allen,  and  Bussell 
Dyer,  men  well  acquainted  with  Morgan, 
agreed  with  Mr.  McCully  as  to  the  height 
of  Morgan. 

“Daniel  H.  Chandler,  Ethan  B.  Allen, 
Thomas  McCully,  John  Bobinson,  and  Bus¬ 
sell  Dyer  proved  that  Morgan  was  wholly 
bald  on  the  top  of  the  head,  and  never  wore 
whiskers. 

“Five  teeth  were  extracted  from  the 
body  buried,  and  none  of  the  front  teeth 
were  double ;  sworn  to  by  Drs.  Strong  and 
Cotes. 

11  Dr.  John  Cotes ,  Jr .,  of  Batavia,  sworn — 
Has  examined  the  body ;  has  cut  open  the 
feet,  and  can  find  no  mark  of  the  bone  of 
any  of  the  toes  having  been  scraped ;  thinks 
a  toe  bone  could  not  have  been  scraped  so 
(as  Morgan’s  is  alleged  to  have  been)  with¬ 
out  the  skin  afterwards  growing  to  the 
bone.  He  discovers  no  evidence  of  the  toe 
bone  having  been  scraped;  witness  has  cut 
the  flesh,  and  discovers  nothing  to  indicate 
anything  more  than  the  first  stage  of  de- 


92 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


composition;  should  suppose,  from  appear¬ 
ance,  that  the  body  has  been  dead  about 
six  weeks,  say  two  months  at  farthest.  The 
part  under  the  skin  has  not  undergone  de¬ 
composition;  there  was  no  cleaving  of  flesh 
from  the  bones  or  tendons ;  the  flesh  adheres 
firmly  to  the  bone;  the  stomach  is  in  a 
perfect  state,  and  I  think  it  has  the  same 
tenacity  as  that  of  a  person  recently  dead ; 
think  a  body  could  not  remain  in  this  state 
a  year  without  some  artificial  process  to 
preserve  it.  Witness  knew  from  informa¬ 
tion  how  this  body  was  found  on  the  beach, 
and  the  particulars  of  its  treatment  since, 
and  does  not  think  it  in  a  more  forward 
state  of  decomposition  than  a  body  would 
be  in  six  or  eight  weeks  after  death.  Has 
never  seen  a  body  whichhas  been  kept  in  water 
for  a  year.  Has  seen  a  body  kept  some  time 
in  spirits.  Witness  has  dissected  the  feet 
of  this  body,  and  thinks  they  appear  like 
those  of  a  body  lately  dead.  I  should  not 
think  a  body  would  be  preserved  nine 
or  twelve  months  in  this  state,  though 
much  would  depend  on  the  manner  of  keep- 


THE  ALLEGED  DISCOVERY. 


93 


ing  it.  I  think  the  body,  if  floating  and 
exposed,  has  not  been  more  than  six  weeks 
or  two  months  dead.  After  being  under 
water  a  year  it  would  not  be  in  so  perfect 
a  state;  a  body  exposed  would  decay  much 
sooner,  after  being  kept  so  long,  than  if 
just  dead.  I  should  not  think  this  body 
more  decayed  than  a  body  drowned  on  the 
26th  of  September,  and  exposed  as  this  has 
been  since  the  6th  of  October.  (The  teeth 
drawn  from  the  body  being  produced,  wit¬ 
ness  says  they  are  not  double  teeth;  and  on 
examining  the  mark  on  the  paper  in  which 
the  teeth  were  wrapped  says  it  is  the  mark 
of  blood  not  decomposed).  Witness  has 
seen  front  double  teeth,  but  these  now  pro¬ 
duced  are  not  what  are  called  ‘front  double 
teeth,’  and  can  see  no  uncommon  appear¬ 
ance  in  the  teeth — nothing  different  from 
the  teeth  of  persons  fifty  years  of  age, 
who  have  good  teeth,  which  set  together 
square. 

“The  verdict  of  the  jury  was,  that  the 
body  is  that  of  Timothy  Monro ,  who  was 


94 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


drowned  in  the  Niagara  river  on  the  26th 
of  September,  1827. 

“Genesee  County,  ss. — An  inquisition  in¬ 
dented  and  taken  for  the  people  of  the  State 
of  New  York,  at  Batavia,  in  the  county 
aforesaid,  the  29th  day  of  October,  in  the 
year  1827,  before  Jonathan  Hurlburt,  one 
of  the  Coroners  of  the  State  for  the  county 
aforesaid,  upon  the  view  of  the  body  of 
Timothy  Monro,  then  and  there  lying  dead, 
upon  the  oaths  of  Guy  Carleton  Towner, 
Osborn  Filer,  Alva  Smith,  Heman  Pomeroy, 
Jr.,  Joseph  Fursman,  Charles  C.  Church, 
Truman  Hurlburt,  Hall  S.  Gregory,  Corne¬ 
lius  L.  Swart,  Daniel  P.  Adams,  William 
H.  Webster,  Abraham  Yan  Tuyl,  John 
Thorp,  Jr.,  William  Blossom,  Elisha  Par- 
melee,  Win.  H.  Wells,  Burnham  Gilbert, 
John  Waldo,  Benjamin  Henshaw,  Ebene- 
zer  Pomeroy,  Lemont  Holden,  Ezekiel  Betts, 
Oswald  Williams  and  Nicholas  Sagendorph, 
good  and  lawful  men  of  the  said  county, 
who  being  sworn  and  charged  to  inquire  on 
the  part  of  the  people  of  said  State,  when, 
where,  how,  and  after  what  manner  the  said 


THE  ALLEGED  DISCOVERY. 


95 


Timothy  Monro  came  to  his  death,  do  say, 
upon  their  oaths  as  aforesaid,  that  the  said 
Timothy  Monro  came  to  his  death  by  drown¬ 
ing,  to-wit:  that  in  crossing  the  Niagara 
river  from  Fort  Niagara  to  Fort  George,  in 
a  skiff,  the  same  upset  in  the  said  river,  by 
means  whereof  the  said  Timothy  Monro 
became  accidentally  drowned,  to-wit,  on  the 
26th  day  of  September,  1827. 

“In  witness  whereof,  as  well  the  said  Cor¬ 
oner  as  the  jurors  whose  names  are  under¬ 
written,  have  to  this  inquisition  set  their 
hands  and  seals,  the  day  and  year  aforesaid 
and  at  the  place  aforesaid.  A.  Yan  Tuyl, 
0.  Filer,  C.  Towner,  W.  H.  Webster,  N. 
Sagendorph,  H.  S.  Gregory,  Chas.  C. 
Church,  D.  P.  Adams,  B.  Henshaw,  John 
Thorp,  Jr.,  Ezekiel  Betts,  Truman  Hurl- 
burt,  Elisha  Parmelee. 

“Jonathan  Huklburt, 

Coroner .” 

All  of  the  dissenters  expressed  themselves 
fully  satisfied  that  the  body  was  not  Mor¬ 
gan’s,  except  two — one  of  whom  declared 


96 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


on  the  jury,  that  he  would  not  believe  but 
that  was  the  body  of  Morgan,  if  twenty  of 
the  most  respectable  men  in  Genesee  County 
should  swear  it  was  not. 


CHAPTEE  Y. 


CONFESSION  OF  E.  H.  HILL  AND  OTHEES. 

THE  body  found  in  Carlton,  so  long  as  it 
was  supposed  to  be  Morgan’s,  changed 
the  inquiry  in  that  section  from  “Where 
is  Morgan?”  to  “Who  are  his  murderers?” 
And  for  several  days  this  last  inquiry  pro¬ 
duced  an  intense  interest.  Arrangements 
were  about  being  made  to  procure  indict¬ 
ments  for  murder  against  a  number  of  sus¬ 
pected  individuals,  and  no  doubts  were 
generally  entertained  but  that  quite  a  num¬ 
ber  of  Masons,  at  least  sixty  or  seventy, 
would  shortly  be  hanged.  It  is  not  too 
much  to  say  that  a  large  portion  of  the 
community  were  already  feasting  their  eyes 
in  anticipation  of  these  wholesale  executions 
and  listening  with  rapture  to  their  expiring 
groans. 

During  this  period  of  anticipatory  anti- 
masonic  triumph,  a  person  by  the  name  of 


98 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


Hill,  then  residing  in  the  town  of  Alden,  in 
the  County  of  Erie,  avowed  himself  as  one 
of  the  murderers.  Hill  was  a  carpenter  by 
trade;  hut  there  is  no  record  known  as  to 
whether  he  was  ever  initiated  as  a  Mason  or 
not.  He  was  represented  to  be  a  person  of 
an  orderly  and  quiet  life,  and,  until  he  con¬ 
fessed  his  participation  in  Morgan’s  death, 
never  by  his  conversation  or  conduct  gave 
any  indications  of  insanity.  Having  made 
some  confessions  apparently  by  accident  to 
those  with  whom  he  associated,  he  was 
arrested  on  suspicion,  and,  having  repeated 
them  on  his  examination  before  the  Justice, 
was  committed  to  the  Buffalo  jail.  While 
in  jail  he  made  and  signed  the  following: 

“To  the  Citizens  of  Erie  County: 

“I,  R.  H.  Hill,  of  said  county,  did,  on 
Tuesday  last,  of  my  own  free  and  voluntary 
will,  come  forward  and  confess  the  crime  of 
murdering  a  man  that  I  supposed,  by  in¬ 
formation,  was  William  Morgan.  On  exam¬ 
ination  I  plead  guilty.  I  was  examined 
before  Esquires  Case  and  Bivins,  and  by 


CONFESSION  OF  HILL. 


99 


them  taken  to  this  place  on  Monday  follow¬ 
ing,  and  a  cross-examination  took  place,  and 
I  was  committed  to  the  gaol  of  said  county 
for  farther  examination.  Several  gentlemen 
have  called  and  questioned  me,  and  it  was 
not  my  intention  to  criminate  any  one  but 
myself.  For  that  reason  I  have  answered 
the  questions,  some  correctly  and  some  I 
have  not.  You  dispute  the  truth  of  my 
assertions  in  respect  to  the  horrid  deed  I 
have  committed.  I  wish  to  be  punished  by 
the  laws  of  God  and  my  country,  which  I 
have  broken,  and  atone  for  the  crime  I  have 
done.  I  am  not  alone  in  the  horrid  trans¬ 
action.  The  stings  of  a  guilty  conscience 
and  a  hand  stained  with  the  innocent  blood 
of  one  that  I  saw  only  once,  has  stared  me 
in  the  face  continually.  My  confederates 
and  I  did  take  the  most  solemn  oaths  that 
we  would  not  betray  each  other,  and,  in 
case  one  of  us  should  be  arrested,  suffer  the 
penalty  of  the  law  in  silence.  Such  is  my 
situation,  and,  for  pity’s  sake,  spare  me  the 
thoughts  of  breaking  the  oaths  at  present. 
I  wish  not  to  be  examined  any  more,  until 


100 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


it  is  at  a  higher  court,  where  I  shall  plead 
guilty,  and  shall  expect  to  die  the  ignomin¬ 
ious  death  of  the  gallows  for  my  bloody 
deeds,  and  may  the  Lord  have  mercy  on  my 
soul.  Such  will  be  my  dying  words.  Fare¬ 
well.  The  prospect  before  me  is  dark  and 
gloomy  when  I  consider  how  short  is  the 
time  before  I  shall  be  summoned  to  the 
tribunal  of  a  just  and  angry  God.  Pity 
the  unhappy  and  miserable  B.  H.  Hill,  who 
begs  your  forgiveness  in  the  arms  of  death. 
Take  warning  in  me  and  shun  the  paths  of 
vice  and  sorrow,  and  remember  thy  Creator 
in  the  days  of  thy  youth.  I  should  suppose 
that  whoever  came,  as  I  have  done,  and 
confessed  the  crime  of  murder,  would  need 
no  more  evidence  than  his  own  confession. 
But  I  have  come  to  satisfy  that  law  which  I 
have  broken.  When  I  left  York  (Livingston 
County),  I  was  accompanied  all  the  first 
traveling  through  a  country  unknown  to 
me,  and  in  the  night,  and  not  making  any 
inquiries,  stopping  once  in  a  while  and  not 
leaving  the  carriage,  during  the  night  tak¬ 
ing  in  sometimes  a  person  whom  I  knew 


CONFESSION  OF  HILL. 


101 


not  and  others  getting  out,  I  could  not  give 
a  correct  account  of  the  country.  In  my 
cross-examinations  I  have  endeavored  not 
to  give  correct  answers  so  as  not  to  betray 
others  who  were  my  associates.  When  I 
have  had  my  trial  I  will  then  declare  as  I 
should  think  it  my  duty.  But  at  the  pres¬ 
ent  I  wish  to  remain  as  I  am.  The  gentle¬ 
man  who  has  called  and  questioned  me  will 
judge  of  this,  and  think  what  can  be  my 
object  but  to  satisfy  the  law  and  the  gospel. 
As  to  anything  more,  I  wish  to  have  it  post¬ 
poned  until  I  have  my  trial  in  the  county 
to  which  it  belongs. 

“ Buffalo ,  Oct.  17,  1827  ” 


“R.  H.  Hill. 


Shortly  thereafter  Hill  was  removed  to 
Lockport,  in  the  County  of  Niagara,  that 
being  the  county  where  the  alleged  murder 
was  said  to  have  been  committed,  and  the 
only  one  in  which  he  could  have  been  tried. 
At  the  first  court  held  in  that  county  after 
Hill  was  committed,  the  case  was  presented 
to  the  grand  jury  for  their  consideration. 
Hill  was  requested  by  Judge  Birdsall  to  go 


102 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


before  the  grand  jury  and  state  how  far  and 
in  what  manner  he  had  been  accessory  to 
the  murder  of  Morgan.  This  he  declined 
doing,  but  repeated  his  confessions  and  ac¬ 
knowledged  his  guilt.  No  circumstances, 
however,  were  shown  to  confirm  his  state¬ 
ment,  nor  was  it  pretended  that  any  such 
existed.  The  grand  jury,  supposing  him 
insane,  as  he  undoubtedly  was,  and  unwill¬ 
ing  to  predicate  an  indictment  for  murder 
upon  his  insulated  confession,  without  a 
solitary  circumstance  being  shown  in  con¬ 
firmation  of  its  truth,  rejected  the  bill,  and 
of  course  Hill  was  discharged.  No  explana¬ 
tion  has  ever  been  given  to  account  for 
Hill’s  extraordinary  conduct,  except  the 
ground  of  insanity,  which  is  also  the  most 
charitable  construction  to  put  upon  other 
“confessions”  and  statements  which  have 
emanated  from  demented  monomaniacs  in 
various  parts  of  the  country. 

One  of  these  lunatics,  named  Henry  L. 
Valance,  made  a  so-called  “death-bed  con¬ 
fession,”  in  1848,  in  which  he  announced 
himself  as  the  very  man  who  threw  the 


CONFESSION  OF  HILL. 


103 


luckless  Morgan  out  of  a  boat  into  the  Niag¬ 
ara  river.  And,  within  a  very  few  days 
past,  Hon.  Thurlow  Weed,  in  an  interview 
with  a  newspaper  representative,  gives  a 
rather  unsatisfactory  lot  of  “confessions” 
which  were  imparted  to  him  at  intervals  of 
twenty  or  thirty  years  apart  by  one  John 
Whitney,  who  likewise  claimed  the  distinc¬ 
tion  of  having  been  in  the  above-mentioned 
boat  and  having  assisted  in  the  murder. 

The  trouble  with  these  crazy,  self-con¬ 
fessed  murderers  is,  their  stories  do  not  hang 
together  well,  nor  agree  in  essential  particu¬ 
lars.  Mr.  Valance  says  there  were  three 
who  did  the  drowning.  Mr.  Whitney  says 
there  were  five,  and  names  them  to  Mr. 
Weed;  but  in  the  five  he  does  not  include 
Mr.  Valance,  nor  Mr.  Hill,  while  the  latter 
gentleman  insists  that  he  is  entitled  to  be 
credited  in  the  “taking  ofi.” 

To  a  candid  and  fair-minded  outsider  it 
would  seem  that  all  these  “confessors”  were 
a  precious  lot  of  madmen,  or  were  very 
anxious  to  have  hemp  around  their  necks. 
At  least  they  seem  to  serve  anti-masons 


104 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


with  ammunition,  and  occupy  in  their 
armory  relatively  the  same  position  as  did 
the  body  of  poor  Timothy  Monro  to  Thur- 
low  Weed  and  his  political  associates,  to- wit : 
“a  good  enough  Morgan  till  after  election.” 


CHAPTEE  VI.  * 

EDWARD  GIDDINS. 

THE  exclusion  of  this  individual  from 
testifying  in  the  case  of  Eli  Bruce  and 
others  was  a  thorn  in  the  side  of  the 
anti-masons  at  that  time,  and  has  been  the 
subject  of  much  animadversion  in  their 
publications  and  speeches  ever  since.  The 
decision  of  the  court  was  boldly  arraigned, 
and  the  most  frantic  attempts  made  to  cast 
suspicion  upon  its  purity  and  impartiality. 
We  are  fortunate  in  having  an  unbiased 
contemporary  opinion  upon  this  subject  in 
the  shape  of  an  editorial,  published  in 
the  Ontario  Repository,  the  ablest  paper 
issued  in  that  section,  during  the  troublous 
times  of  the  anti-masonic  excitement.  We 
deem  the  article  worthy  insertion,  as  show¬ 
ing  the  opinion  of  those  capable  of  judging 
impartially. 


106 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


“In  order  to  exhibit  the  reason  of  the 
exclusion  of  Giddins’  testimony,  it  will  be 
proper  to  advert  for  a  moment  to  the  nature 
of  an  oath.  An  oath  is  an  appeal  to  God, 
as  the  moral  governor  of  the  world,  to  wit¬ 
ness  the  sincerity  of  what  is  about  to  be 
testified,  and  an  imprecation  of  his  ven¬ 
geance  upon  the  witness,  if  he  does  not 
testify  truly.  If,  therefore,  the  witness 
denies  the  existence  of  the  Supreme  Being, 
or  does  not  believe  that  He  will  punish 
perjury,  he  cannot  with  any  propriety  be 
sworn.  As  an  appeal  to  Heaven,  an  oath, 
in  the  case  of  the  individual  supposed,  is 
but  solemn  mockery;  the  Being  whose 
notice  of  the  act  is  invoked,  and  whose 
vengeance  upon  perjury  is  imprecated, 
either  does  not  exist,  or  is  indifferent  to 
the  truth  or  falsity  of  what  is  testified. 
Whether,  under  this  view  of  the  subject, 
Mr.  Giddins  should  have  been  sworn,  will 
appear  from  the  testimony  produced  on  the 
trial.  And  here  we  shall  pass  over  that 
portion  of  it  which  was  verbal,  and  direct 
the  attention  of  the  reader  to  the  higher 


EDWARD  GIDDINS. 


107 


and  more  satisfactory  evidence  furnished  by 
Giddins  himself,  in  a  written  declaration  of 
his  opinions,  deliberately  penned  in  the 
confidence  of  a  private  correspondence  with 
an  intimate  friend. 

“In  a  letter  to  David  Morrison,  dated  the 
10th  of  April,  1827,  of  great  length,  and,  as 
its  whole  scope  and  tenor  indicates,  written 
for  the  express  purpose  of  giving  a  formal 
statement  of  the  writer’s  religious  creed, 
are  the  following,  among  many  coincident 
passages:  ‘God  has  the  same  care  of  a 
man  as  of  an  insect,  of  an  insect  as  of  a 
tree,  of  a  tree  as  of  a  stone.  With  him 
there  can  be  no  difference  or  distinction 
between  beauty  and  deformity,  virtue  and 
vice,  perfection  and  imperfection.  Prayers 
are  hut  mockery  to  His  name,  and  ought 
not  to  be  encouraged.  All  men  can  do  can¬ 
not  change  Him;  He  is  not  susceptible  of 
persuasion,  and  as  relates  to  man  he  is  incap¬ 
able  of  love  or  hatred.  This  is  my  notion 
of  vice  and  virtue ;  that  they  do  not  refer  to 
any  future  time,  hut  relate  altogether  to 
man  in  his  present  state.  My  views  are 


108 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


not  in  accordance  with  the  Bible,  for  that 
book  represents  the  Deity  as  vindictive  and 
inconsistent.’ 

“Such  were  the  views  of  Mr.  Giddins  but 
a  few  months  previous  to  the  disappearance 
of  William  Morgan.  By  the  testimony  of 
Mr.  Griffin  and  Mr.  Weed,  a  declaration  of 
his,  last  May,  was  proved,  that  his  religious 
opinions  were  fixed ,  and  that  he  had  not 
changed  them  for  years.  Now  if  the  com¬ 
petency  of  a  witness  requires  a  belief  of 
the  Divine  cognizance  of  the  acts  of  His 
creatures,  and  that  He  will  punish  false 
swearing  (a  point  which  we  supposed  estab¬ 
lished  by  unnumbered  decisions,  and  the  uni¬ 
form  and  immemorial  practice  of  courts  in 
every  civilized  country),  then  there  can  be 
no  question  hut  Edward  Giddins  was  prop¬ 
erly  and  legally  rejected.  The  only  question 
for  the  court  to  decide  was,  what  was  the  law 
of  the  State  as  applicable  to  that  case? 
With  the  policy  or  impolicy,  propriety  or 
impropriety  of  the  laws,  they  had  nothing 
to  do.  If  the  principle,  in  any  of  its  ten¬ 
dencies  or  applications  should  he  found 


EDWARD  GIDDINS. 


109 


prejudicial  to  individual  rights,  or  sub¬ 
versive  of  the  ends  of  justice,  then  it  is 
incumbent  on  the  Legislature  to  provide  a 
remedy.  It  is  the  province  of  courts  of 
justice,  not  to  enact  or  change  laws,  but  to 
declare  and  execute  them  as  they  actually 
exist.  It  is,  however,  deserving  of  serious 
consideration,  whether  the  abrogation  of 
this  rule  and  the  indiscriminate  admission 
of  witnesses  denying  moral  responsibility, 
and  insensible  of  the  religious  sanction  of 
an  oath,  would  not  lead  to  consequences 
more  dangerous  than  any  which  can  result 
from  the  operations  of  the  law  as  it  now 
stands.  It  is  only  a  sense  of  moral  obliga¬ 
tion  and  future  retribution,  which  can  make 
an  oath  what  it  has  been  fully  termed,  ‘the 
adamantine  chain  which  binds  the  soul  of 
man  to  the  throne  of  eternal  justice.’ 

“But  it  is  said  by  anti-masons  that,  by 
the  rejection  of  this  witness,  the  perpetra¬ 
tors  of  an  outrage  are  to  escape  the  punish¬ 
ment  due  to  their  crime.  So,  too,  it  might 
happen  that  an  individual  convicted  on 
record  of  larceny  or  perjury  might  be  the 


110 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


sole  witness  of  a  robbery  or  murder,  and 
that,  if  admitted  to  his  oath,  he  would 
testify  truly,  and  yet,  as  the  law  disallows 
the  testimony  of  such  a  person,  the  high¬ 
way  robber  or  murderer  must  in  that  case 
go  unpunished. 

“Many  encomiums  have  been  lavished  by 
anti-masons  upon  the  character  of  Mr. 
Giddins,  who  is  held  up  to  the  public  as  a 
paragon  of  integrity  and  moral  worth.  But 
what,  upon  his  own  showing,  are  his  claims 
to  such  a  distinction  ?  He  shamelessly 
proclaimed  to  the  world  that  he  was  per¬ 
sonally  concerned  in  one  of  the  greatest 
outrages  ever  perpetrated  in  a  civilized 
community.  He  stated  that  the  liberty 
and  life  of  an  injured  fellow-being  were 
placed  in  his  hands.  According  to  his 
story,  day  after  day  he  held  the  ill-fated 
Morgan  confined  in  a  dreary  prison  house, 
and  heard  unmoved  the  supplicating  cries 
of  his  prisoner  for  sympathy  and  deliver¬ 
ance.  By  simply  turning  a  key  he  might 
have  sent  him  forth  to  liberty  and  life. 
He  might  have  had  recourse  to  the  civil 


EDWARD  GIDDINS. 


Ill 


authority,  but  he  did  not  do  it;  the  mur¬ 
derous  tragedy  is  consummated,  and  long 
afterward,  when  community  come  to  make 
inquisition,  and  indignation  is  enkindled 
against  the  transaction,  then,  forsooth,  this 
Mr.  Giddins  becomes  the  champion  of  a 
virtuous  excitement !  Instead  of  humbling 
himself  in  sackcloth  and  ashes  before  that 
community,  whose  most  sacred  rights  he 
confesses  to  have  outraged,  he  sets  him¬ 
self  up  for  a  leader  of  the  anti-masonic 
party,  and  does  not  hesitate  even  to  trumpet 
through  almanacks  and  newspapers  the 
story  of  his  own  infamy,  that  he  may 
speculate  upon  publick  curiosity  and  excite¬ 
ment.  The  impropriety  and  injustice  of 
thus  giving  publicity  to  the  particulars  of 
a  transaction  in  reference  to  which  he  then 
expected  to  be  a  witness  against  his  asso¬ 
ciates  in  a  crime,  thereby  inflaming  the 
feelings  of  the  publick  against  the  accused, 
and  leading  them  to  prejudge  the  cause 
upon  ex-parti  statements,  must  be  obvious 
to  every  one ;  and  the  conduct  of  Mr.  Gid¬ 
dins,  whether  considered  in  reference  to 


112  MASONIC  LIGHT. 

N 

the  sordid  motives  which  actuate  it,  or  the 
relation  in  which  he  stands  to  all  the 
parties,  deserves  unmixed  and  decided  rep¬ 
robation.  ” 


CHAPTER  VII. 


COL.  WILLIAM  KING  AND  CAPT.  HYDE. 

WILLIAM  KING,  who  was  branded  by 
anti-masons  as  a  fugitive  from  justice, 
and  accused  not  only  of  participating 
in  Morgan’s  abduction,  but  also  in  bis  mur¬ 
der,  was,  for  many  years,  a  resident  of  Nia¬ 
gara  County.  Possessed  of  many  estimable 
virtues,  and  being  highly  respected  in  the 
community  where  he  resided,  be  had  the 
confidence  of  bis  fellow- citizens  and  at  one 
time  represented  that  county  in  the  Assem¬ 
bly.  Having  also  the  confidence  of  the  Gen¬ 
eral  Government  be  was  appointed  agent  for 
three  of  its  military  posts,  Niagara,  Platts¬ 
burgh  and  Micbilimackinack.  A  few  years 
subsequent  the  Government  abandoned  them 
and  left  him  with  a  family  of  twelve  children 
without  support.  Having  no  capital  at  bis 
command  be  determined  to  become  a  pio- 


114 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


neer,  and  started  for  the  West  in  the  winter 
of  1827,  big  with  the  hope  of  soon  being 
able  to  provide  his  family  with  a  home.  He 
went  in  the  first  place  to  Albany,  where  he 
received  an  appointment  from  Gov.  Clinton 
to  transact  some  business  for  the  State  at 
Washington,  to  which  place  he  repaired, 
and  there  remained  till  the  7th  of  February, 
1827.  During  his  stay  at  Washington  he 
received  the  appointment  of  sutler  for  Can¬ 
tonment  Towson,  in  the  Arkansas  Territory, 
on  the  Eed  Eiver.  On  the  10th  of  Febru¬ 
ary,  1827,  he  left  Baltimore  and  arrived  at 
his  destination,  by  the  way  of  New  Orleans, 
on  the  1st  of  April  following,  and  at  once 
established  himself  in  business.  Anti-ma- 
sonic  venom  followed  him,  and  while  engaged 
in  his  legitimate  business  he  received  in¬ 
formation  for  the  first  time  that  his  name 
was  connected  in  the  public  papers  and  on 
the  tongues  of  anti-masonic  slanderers  with 
Morgan’s  abduction. 

As  soon  as  he  was  apprised  of  this  circum¬ 
stance  he  resolved  to  return  and  abide  the 
justice  of  his  country.  While  making  ar- 


COL.  KING  AND  CAPT.  HYDE. 


115 


rangements  with  that  view  he  was  informed 
by  some  one  who  overheard  a  conversa¬ 
tion  between  some  strangers,  who  had  just 
arrived  at  that  post,  and  Capt.  Hyde,  its 
commanding  officer,  that  he  was  pursued. 
He  thereupon  expressed  a  perfect  willing¬ 
ness  to  be  arrested  in  case  he  was  suspected 
of  violating  the  laws  of  his  country,  but  on 
being  told  that  he  was  to  be  carried  in  irons 
(nothing  but  iron  shackles  would  answer 
anti-masonic  suspicion)  back  to  his  native 
State,  he  chose  not  to  return  in  that  way, 
and,  therefore,  went  to  the  house  of  a  friend, 
about  ten  miles  distant,  where  he  remained 
till  assured  of  their  departure.  He  then 
completed  his  arrangements  as  soon  as  pos¬ 
sible,  and,  by  traveling  day  and  night  a  dis¬ 
tance  of  nearly  four  thousand  miles,  arrived 
in  the  County  of  Niagara  soon  after  his 
pursuers’  return. 

Col.  King  having  been  publicly  accused, 
as  already  stated,  of  Morgan’s  murder,  hav¬ 
ing  fled  from  the  State,  as  it  was  supposed, 
to  elude  its  justice,  and  the  place  of  his 
residence  having  with  certainty  been  ascer- 


116 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


tained,  Burrage  Smith  and  John  Whitney, 
of  Rochester,  having  also  been  accused  of 
Morgan’s  abduction,  and  having  also  fled, 
as  asserted,  for  a  similar  purpose,  Mr.  Garl- 
inghouse,  the  Sheriff  of  Ontario,  and  Mr. 
Bates,  its  former  Sheriff,  accompanied  by  a 
Mr.  Mead,  on  the  13th  of  December,  1827, 
being  vested  with  authority  for  that  purpose, 
left  Canandaigua  in  order  to  arrest  them. 
They  arrived  at  Cantonment  Towson,  in  the 
Arkansas  Territory,  on  the  14th  of  February, 
1828,  immediately  made  known  their  busi¬ 
ness,  presented  their  authority  to  Capt. 
Hyde,  commanding  the  fort,  and  desired  his 
aid.  Capt.  Hyde  refused  to  aid  in  the  arrest 
of  Col.  King,  but  directed  an  officer  to  ac¬ 
company  them  to  Col.  King’s  store.  On 
arriving  there  they  were  informed  that  King 
(apprised  of  their  pursuit  in  the  manner 
above  related)  had  gone.  Presuming  that 
further  pursuit  would  be  hopeless,  they 
retraced  their  steps,  and  on  the  1st  of  April, 
1828,  made  their  report  to  Lieut.  Governor 
Pitcher,  at  Albany.  On  the  17th  of  May 


COL.  KING  AND  CAPT.  HYDE. 


117 


Col.  King  returned  and  published  in  the 
Lockport  Journal  the  following  card: 


“  To  Messrs.  Garlinghouse  and  Bates: 

“The  undersigned  asks  leave  to  inform 
them  that  he  has  returned  to  the  County  of 
Niagara,  where  he  can  be  found,  and  is 
ready  to  transact  any  business  they  may 

have  with  him.  Wm.  King.” 


The  return  of  Col.  King  at  this  particular 
time  created  the  utmost  surprise.  Indeed 
it  was  a  bombshell  fired  into  the  anti-ma¬ 
sonic  camp.  Men  who  had  abused  him  in 
the  harshest  terms  during  his  absence  im¬ 
mediately  became  (at  least  to  all  appearance) 
his  most  ardent  friends.  The  load  of  public 
infamy  under  which  anti-masonic  slander 
and  vituperation  had  placed  him,  and  for 
which  he  had  suffered,  was  at  once  removed. 
Those  good  feelings  which  he  had  enjoyed 
so  largely  in  former  times  resumed  their 
accustomed  influence,  and  the  scurrilous 
defamations  which  had  filled  the  air  van¬ 
ished  as  a  mist. 


118 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


During  liis  absence  efforts  had  been  made 
to  indict  him  for  murder,  but  had  failed  of 
success.  Anti-masonic  influence,  however, 
had  succeeded  in  getting  an  indictment 
against  him  for  a  misdemeanor,  but  no 
attempt  was  made  to  arrest  him  on  his  re¬ 
turn.  On  the  second  day  thereafter  he  went 
of  his  own  accord  to  Lewiton  and  gave  his 
own  bond  for  $1,000,  with  two  sureties  in 
the  sum  of  $500  each,  for  his  appearance 
at  the  next  court.  On  the  27th  of  May  he 
published  an  address  to  the  public,  contain¬ 
ing  a  statement  of  the  facts  before  related. 
His  business,  the  following  autumn,  requir¬ 
ing  his  personal  attention,  he  went  away 
again  for  that  purpose.  No  sooner  had  he 
done  so  than  a  hue  and  cry  was  immediately 
raised  against  him  in  the  anti-masonic  pa¬ 
pers,  and  the  terms  “fugitive  and  murderer” 
were  again  freely  connected  with  his  name. 
Such  is  the  consistent  beauty  of  anti-ma¬ 
sonic  persecution.  He  shortly  after  returned 
again,  but  it  is  a  matter  of  history  that,  of 
all  those  who  were  so  persistent  and  voluble 
in  making  charges  and  assertions  when  he 


COL.  KING  AND  CAPT.  HYDE. 


119 


was  absent,  not  one  ever  had  the  courage 
to  bring  his  case  to  trial  when  he  was  there 
to  defend  it.  It  is  also  a  matter  of  history 
that  John  Whitney,  of  Rochester,  who  was 
so  loudly  accused,  afterward  returned,  when 
the  slanderers  were  silenced. 

Col.  King  died  at  his  residence,  in  Youngs¬ 
town,  on  the  28th  of  May,  1829,  and  was 
buried  with  military  honors  under  the  direc¬ 
tion  of  the  commandant  at  Fort  Niagara. 

Col.  King  was  in  the  expedition  at  Little 
York,  under  Gen.  Pike,  and  commanded  the 
troops  of  the  Fifteenth  Regiment.  He  was 
also  at  Four  Mile  Creek,  where  he  distin¬ 
guished  himself  and  was  wounded.  His 
funeral  was  attended  by  a  large  concourse 
of  friends,  relatives  and  citizens,  showing 
that  he  held  a  high  place  in  the  heart  of  the 
community,  notwithstanding  the  outrage¬ 
ous  slanders,  insinuations  and  abuse  of  anti¬ 
masons. 

Immediately  after  the  failure  of  Messrs. 
Garlinghouse  and  Bates  to  arrest  Col.  King, 
an  effort  was  made  to  have  Capt.  Hyde  tried 
for  refusing  to  obey  orders  from  the  Govern- 


120 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


ment  regarding  the  matter,  but  no  trial 
ever  took  place,  and  lie  was  honorably  ex¬ 
onerated  from  any  suspicion  of  wrong  in  his 
connection  with  the  matter.  Thus  ended 
another  of  those  series  of  baseless  anti- 
masonic  accusations  which  were  horn  in 
bigotry  and  nursed  by  blind  fanaticism. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


ANTI-MASONIC  EXCITEMENT  IN  WESTERN  NEW 
YORK,  AND  THE  MEANS  USED  TO 
INCREASE  IT. 


FOR  a  time  during  the  period  of  which  we 
write,  the  popularity  and  influence  of 
the  anti-masonic  agitators  in  the  western 
part  of  the  State  of  New  York  were  almost 
without  limit.  Their  command  over  the 
minds  of  a  large  portion  of  the  community 
was  startlingly  powerful  and  significant. 
Common  sense  and  common  humanity  were 
violated  to  aid  in  the  progress  of  the  excite¬ 
ment.  The  most  sacred  rights  of  Masons 
were  trampled  under  foot,  and  a  large  num¬ 
ber  of  the  common  people,  like  men  affright¬ 
ed  in  the  dark,  took  every  figure  for  a  spec¬ 
ter.  The  terror  of  each  man  became  the 
source  of  terror  to  another,  and,  a  general 
panic  prevailing,  reason  and  argument,  com- 


122 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


mon  sense  and  humanity,  lost  their  influ¬ 
ence  over  the  actions  of  men.  The  torrent 
of  national  prejudice  ran  so  high  that  no 
one,  without  the  most  imminent  danger,  dare 
venture  openly  to  oppose  it;  indeed,  scarce¬ 
ly  any  one,  without  great  force  of  character, 
could  even  secretly  entertain  an  opinion 
contrary  to  the  prevailing  anti-masonic  sen¬ 
timent. 

This  current  of  popular  prejudice  did  not, 
perhaps,  run  as  violent  as  it  did  during  the 
witchcraft  terrors  in  New  England,  but  the 
cases  were  parallel,  and,  had  this  excitement 
occurred  in  a  different  age,  and  among  a  less 
enlightened  people ;  had  the  Legislature 
given  it  the  sanction  of  its  authority,  and 
had  the  public  mind  been  familiar  with 
scenes  of  carnage,  it  would  unquestionably 
have  terminated  in  the  massacre  of  all  Ma¬ 
sons  in  the  section  of  country  where  anti- 
masonic  power  had  become  dominant. 

In  order  to  test  public  sensibility  on  this 
point,  a  number  of  false  alarms  were  spread 
abroad  by  D.  C.  Miller  in  his  paper,  or  by 
his  friends  in  other  ways.  It  is  a  fact  that 


ANTI-MASONIC  ANIMOSITY. 


123 


individuals,  supposing  that  Batavia  was 
made  up  of  cannibals,  who,  having  devoured 
the  adjacent  country,  were  about  to  devour 
each  other,  flocked  thither  with  loaded  arms 
for  the  avowed  purpose  of  fighting  the  Ma¬ 
sons.  Taunts,  threats,  and  numerous  other 
measures  were  being  constantly  resorted  to 
for  the  purpose  of  preventing  Masons  from 
meeting,  but  all  these  things  proved  in 
vain. 

In  our  introductory  chapter  we  mentioned 
the  attempt  of  anti-masons  to  break  up  the 
Masonic  celebration  of  St.  John’s  day,  in 
June,  1827,  by  the  Batavia  Lodge.  The 
following  article  regarding  the  matter  ap¬ 
peared  in  the  Morgan  Investigator  and  Advo¬ 
cate ,  published  by  Miller : 

“The  Masonick  Intelligencer  of  yesterday 
contains  a  notice  of  an  intended  celebration 
of  St.  John’s  day  on  the  25th  of  June  next. 
The  notice  closes  by  saying — ‘  The  neighbor¬ 
ing  Encampments,  Chapters  and  Lodges,  in 
their  corporate  capacities,  as  well  as  all  Sir 
Knights,  Companions  and  brethren  in  the 
vicinity  will  be  invited  to  attend.’  There 


124 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


is  something  in  this  notice,  as  well  as  the 
time  of  its  appearance,  which  ought  not  to 
escape  publick  attention.  What  is  meant 
by  their  ‘corporate  capacities?’  I  have 
never  understood  that  lodges,  or  chapters, 
or  even  encampments,  were  incorporated  in¬ 
stitutions — nor  can  I  conceive  how  they 
can  have  ‘corporate  capacities,’  unless  they 
be  in  some  manner  recognized  by  law. 

“And,  besides,  why  is  this  notice  given  so 
early?  It  is  now  more  than  six  weeks  to 
the  25th  of  June.  There  is  still  more  mys¬ 
tery  about  this  part  of  the  subject.  A  few 
days  instead  of  weeks  would  he  sufficient  for 
all  in  the  vicinity  of  this  place.  But  their 
object,  probably,  is  to  give  their  notice  a 
wide  circulation  and  call  together  their 
‘tens  of  thousands,’  which  they  have  fre¬ 
quently  boasted  they  could  command  at  a 
moment’s  warning.  What  can  be  the  object 
of  calling  together  so  many  Masons  at  this 
place?  Whose  houses  aie  to  be  burnt  or 
demolished?  Who  is  to  be  kidnapped  and 
murdered?  If  it  be  necessary  to  celebrate 
this  Masonick  festival,  why  is  it  not  done  by 


ANTI-MASONIC  ANIMOSITY. 


125 


the  respective  lodges  in  their  own  neighbor¬ 
hoods?  Where  is  the  necessity  of  fcheir  all 
congregating  at  one  place?  Is  it  to  display 
their  strength,  manifest  their  contempt  for 
the  people  and  set  at  defiance  their  power? 

“They  wilh probably  say  they  have  a  right 
to  assemble.  And  so  have  the  people  a  right 
to  assemble.  And  now  I  would  suggest  to 
the  good  people  of  this  county,  that  a  gen¬ 
eral  county  meeting  be  held  at  the  court 
house  in  Batavia,  on  the  25th  day  of  June 
next,  to  deliberate  upon  the  proper  measures 
to  be  adopted  to  secure  our  rights  and  per¬ 
sons  from  Masonick  encroachment  and  out¬ 
rage.  It  is  no  time  to  sleep  upon  our  posts. 
Eternal  vigilance  is  the  only  condition  upon 
which  liberty  is  vouchsafed  to  man.  We 
have  seen  with  what  secrecy  the  Masons 
contrive,  and  with  what  facility  they  exe¬ 
cute  their  plans  of  vengeance.  Eight 
months  have  elapsed  since  a  free  citizen  of 
our  country  was  kidnapped  and  torn  from 
his  family  and  home,  and,  although  the  ac¬ 
tive  vigilance  of  a  whole  community  has 
been  enlisted  in  the  investigation,  still  his 


126 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


fate  is  wrapped  in  the  dark  arena  of  Mason- 
ick  mystery.  The  place  of  his  grave  remains 
undiscovered,  and  bloody  assassins  go  un¬ 
punished.  And  who  is  to  be  the  next  vic¬ 
tim  of  Masonick  vengeance  time  alone  must 
disclose.  In  this  state  of  things  I  think  the 
friends  of  constitutional  law  and  civil  liberty 
should  commune  together  and  adopt  some 
measures  for  their  future  protection.  And 
that  they  may  see  the  force  with  which  they 
have  to  contend  in  their  struggle  to  main¬ 
tain  the  majesty  of  the  laws,  the  independ¬ 
ence  of  the  country  and  the  rights  of  the 
people,  let  them  assemble  on  the  25th  of 
June.  They  may  then  see  the  Masons  ar¬ 
rayed  in  robes  of  royalty,  with  scepters  in 
their  hands,  and  crowns  upon  their  heads, 
marching  through  the  streets  of  a  republican 
country.” 

The  Masonick  Intelligencer  of  May  23d, 
1827,  in  relation  to  the  above  article,  con¬ 
tained  the  following  remarks : 

“We  did  not  anticipate,  when  in  a  former 
number  we  gave  notice  of  our  intention  to 
celebrate  in  publick  the  anniversary  of  St. 


ANTI-MASONIC  ANIMOSITY. 


127 


John  the  Baptist,  on  the  25th  of  June,  in 
this  village,  that  it  would  have  called  forth 
such  asperity  of  remark,  or  that  our  right 
to  do  so  would  be  for  a  moment  questioned. 
Were  we,  however,  to  judge  from  the  gen¬ 
eral  tenour  of  some  remarks  on  that  subject 
in  the  last  number  of  the  ‘ Morgan  Investi¬ 
gator  and  Advocate ,’  we  should  of  course 
infer  that  such  a  celebration  at  that  time, 
in  this  village,  is  not  to  be  tolerated  with 
impunity.  Men  who  have  stood  so  long 
1  sleepless  on  the  towers  of  freedom  ’ — who 
have  so  often  and  so  loudly  proclaimed  their 
patriotism,  who  have  boasted  so  much  of 
their  regard  for  individual  rights  and  per¬ 
sonal  freedom,  it  was  to  have  been  expected 
would  be  the  first  to  attempt  their  violation. 
Still  we  can  scarcely  believe  that  the  pub- 
lick  at  large  are  yet  prepared  to  sacrifice 
Masons  on  the  altar  of  prejudice,  or  go  to 
the  extreme  lengths  which  these  pretended 
patriots  advise  in  acts  of  violence  and  out¬ 
rage.  We  think  the  time  is  approaching, 
and  even  now  is  not  far  distant,  when  the 


128 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


appellation  of  ‘  a  brother  ’  will  not  be  a  term 
of  reproach. 

“  The  recent  excitement,  originating,  we 
admit,  in  some  cases  from  the  purest  of 
motives,  but  which  of  late,  by  a  combina¬ 
tion  of  all  the  angry  passions,  has,  we  think, 
in  many  instances  been  perverted  to  an  end 
for  which  it  was  not  originally  designed, 
seems  rapidly  coming  to  a  close.  Some 
mighty  effort  seems  indispensable  therefore 
to  preserve  its  existence,  in  order  that  the 
‘  proprietors’  may  not,  like  drunken  men  on 
the  morning  subsequent  to  debauch,  sink 
into  that  state  of  torpor  from  which  nothing 
short  of  the  last  trumpet  can  apparently 
redeem  thenf.  An  occasion  for  additional 
excitement  we  presume  these  proprietors 
fondly  anticipate  on  this  anniversary.  We 
are  confident,  however,  that  in  this  respect 
they  will  be  egregiously  mistaken. 

“  It  has  ever  been  a  standing  rule  among 
Masons,  sanctioned  and  approved  by  centu¬ 
ries,  to  celebrate  this  day  either  in  publick 
or  in  private.  We  are  not  aware  that  a 
publick  celebration,  if  properly  conducted, 


ANTI-MASONIC  ANIMOSITY. 


129 


(and  that  this  will  be  so  we  have  no  doubt,) 
ought  to  excite  the  animosity  of  any 
rational  being  on  earth.  Such,  then,  being* 
our  views,  we  cannot  but  express  our  un¬ 
feigned  satisfaction  that  it  is  in  contempla¬ 
tion,  and  we  fondly  hope  that  our  fellow 
citizens  who  are  not  Masons  will  unite  in 
participating  in  the  festivities  of  that  day. 

“We  understand  that  a  talented  and 
highly  respectable  gentleman  has  been  re¬ 
quested  by  the  committee  of  arrangements 
to  deliver  an  address  on  the  occasion.  We 
hope  he  will  accept  the  invitation,  and  from 
his  talents,  his  standing  and  his  exalted 
character  we  anticipate  an  exposition  of 
Masonick  principles  which  the  most  violent 
and  the  most  exasperated  can  but  sanction 
and  approve,  even  if  they  do  not  embrace.” 

As  a  comparison  to  the  foregoing  dispas¬ 
sionate  and  manly  article,  note  the  follow¬ 
ing  tirade  which  appeared  in  Miller’s  paper 
the  next  week : 

“  There  is  much  conversation  respecting 
the  meeting  to  take  place  the  25th  of  June. 
The  Masons  have  their  emblems  and  signs, 


130 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


and  on  their  aprons  and  sashes  the  sun, 
moon  and  stars  are  engraved.  The  bright 
luminary  of  day  throws  his  beams  over  our 
heads,  and  the  moon,  with  her  borrowed 
light,  sheds  her  beams.  It  is  unnecessary 
to  have  the  sun,  moon  and  stars  emblazoned 
on  the  flags  of  the  people.  The  forty- 
seventh  problem  of  Euclid,  and  compasses 
and  squares  would  be  equally  foreign  from 
our  purpose.  When  the  meeting  takes 
place  numerous  devices  have  been  proposed, 
4  The  Majesty  of  the  People ;  ’  4  The  Triumph 
of  Justice  over  Oppression;’  4  Morgan’s 
Ghost  walks  Unavenged  among  Us;’  ‘Masons 
have  had  their  Day;  ’  4  Murder  will  Out;  ’ 
4  He  that  Sheddeth  Man’s  Blood,  by  Man 
shall  his  Blood  be  Shed;  ’  4  The  Voice  of 
Abel  Cries  to  me  from  the  Ground.’ 

“  The  leaders  on  the  occasion  will  select 
for  themselves.  There  is  much  greatness 
to  be  maintained.  The  sovereign  people  are 
to  move  in  commanding  attitude;  a  vile 
and  contemptible  society,  with  blood  on 
their  heads,  are  to  be  met.  Our  citizens, 
we  trust,  will  act  with  decision.  The  great 


ANTI-MASONIC  ANIMOSITY. 


131 


and  solemn  subject  and  event  will  sink  deep 
into  their  hearts  and  evince  itself  in  the 
deportment  of  the  multitude.” 

As  stated  in  a  previous  chapter,  many 
insults  and  much  provocation  was  heaped 
upon  the  Masons,  hut  without  the  hoped  for 
retaliation.  The  proceedings  at  the  celebra¬ 
tion  were  impressive  and  dignified.  Ti?e 
address,  which  was  delivered  by  George 
Hosmer,  Esq.,  of  Livingston  County,  com¬ 
pletely  met  the  anticipations  of  his  friends, 
being  a  masterly  effort  in  every  sense ;  while 
the  Masonic  order,  for  their  endurance  of 
the  scoffs  and  sneers,  the  insults  and  bar¬ 
barous  provocations  of  the  anti-masonic 
crowds,  secured,  as  they  deserved,  the  com¬ 
mendation  of  many  who  had  previously 
looked  upon  them  with  a  certain  degree  of 
disfavor. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


CONCURRENT  EVENTS  AND  ITEMS. 

SOON  after  the  commencement  of  its 
existence  as  a  league  or  fraternity,  anti¬ 
masonry  assumed  a  political  character, 
and  in  the  fall  of  1827  formally  took  the 
field  as  a  party.  The  campaign  of  1828, 
however,  gave  evidence  of  a  new  and 
vigorous  enthusiasm,  and  developed  the 
fact  that  anti-masonic  leaders  were  deter¬ 
mined  to  make  the  most  of  their  efforts  to 
attach  odium  upon  the  Masonic  order,  and, 
gaining  popularity  thereby,  secure  office 
and  influence.  During  the  winter  of  that 
year,  one  Solomon  Southwick,  of  Albany, 
who  had  previously  been  dismissed  from 
the  office  of  Postmaster  in  that  city,  began 
making  considerable  noise.  He  had  been 
a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity  for 
many  years,  and  about  this  time  had  dis- 


CONCURRENT  EVENTS. 


133 


covered  that  it  was  a  “hell-born  and  hell¬ 
deserving  institution.”  He  had  been  a 
candidate  for  Governor  once,  and  received 
fifteen  hundred  or  two  thousand  votes  in 
the  State,  and,  at  the  time  of  which  we 
speak,  was  editing  a  paper  in  Albany  called 
the  National  Observer .  This  sheet  was  re¬ 
markable  only  for  its  bitter  vituperation,  a 
single  instance  of  which  will  suffice. 

During  the  winter  of  1828,  Col.  Goodwill, 
of  Batavia,  was  driving  across  a  bridge 
over  the  Tonawanta  Creek,  in  a  cutter  with 
his  wife,  when  they  were  accidentally 
thrown  off  a  steep  bank  a  distance  of  nearly 
forty  feet.  Col.  Goodwill  was  himself- 
seriously  injured,  and  the  life  of  his  wife 
was  for  some  time  despaired  of.  In  making 
mention  of  the  affair  in  his  paper,  Mr. 
Southwick,  after  speaking  of  some  papers 
which  he  alleged  Col.  Goodwill  had  assisted 
others  to  obtain  against  Morgan,  says : 
“No  redress  has  yet  been  obtained  except 
by  an  act  of  Divine  Providence,  which 
precipitated  one  of  them  over  a  bridge  in  a 
sleigh,  his  horse  taking  fright,  by  which  he 


134 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


came  near  having  his  neck  broke.  Well 
indeed  was  it  he  was  thrown  off  the  bridge; 
for  if  he  had  fallen  from  a  precipice  fifty 
thousand  feet  high,  into  a  volcano  like 
iEtna,  or  Vesuvius,  he  would  have  been 
justly  served.  Perdition  seize  such  mon¬ 
sters!” 

These  remarks,  from  the  pen  of  a  man 
who  was  the  anti-masonic  candidate  for 
Governor,  were  the  sincere  sentiments  of 
the  majority  of  the  party  which  he  repre¬ 
sented. 

In  March,  1828,  he  went  to  Batavia,  and 
was  nominated  for  Governor,  at  Green’s 
tavern  in  that  village,  after  which  addresses 
were  exchanged,  the  nomination  accepted, 
and  Mr.  Southwick  returned  to  Albany. 
For  want  of  a  better,  this  nomination  was 
afterwards  ratified  by  various  anti-masonic 
bodies  and  papers,  in  different  parts  of  the 
State,  and  supported  by  the  whole  anti- 
masonic  party,  with  great  confidence  in  its 
success.  The  result  was  not  especially 
encouraging,  since  the  sanguinary  anti- 
masonic  would-be  Governor  only  received 


CONCURRENT  EVENTS. 


135 


35,335  votes  out  of  a  total  of  276,535  which 
were  cast  in  the  State. 

The  conduct  of  anti-masons  during  the 
election  of  1828  afforded  a  more  perfect 
clue  to  the  discovery  of  their  objects  than 
anything  which  had  been  previously  dis¬ 
closed.  It  unfolded  a  system  of  political 
inconsistency,  and  developed  a  hardihood 
in  political  depravity,  which  was  a  disgrace 
to  the  character  of  the  great  State  of  New 
York.  Yery  few  of  the  then  active  par¬ 
ticipants  are  now  living,  probably  the  only 
notable  one  at  this  writing  being  Thurlow 
Weed. 

In  order  to  enlist  anti-masons  in  favor  of 
Mr.  Adams,  a  variety  of  expedients  were 
resorted  to. 

Among  others,  a  Mr.  Hartwell,  of  Can¬ 
andaigua,  who  had  some  time  before  been 
dismissed  from  the  office  of  Postmaster  in 
that  village,  wrote  the  following  letter  to 
President  Adams : 


136 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


“Canandaigua, 

“ 31st  March,  1828. 
“  To  Ills  Excellency  John  Quincy  Adams ,  President  oj 
the  United  /States . 

“Sir: 

“  In  consequence  of  a  great  many  of  my  fellow 
citizens  and  neighbors,  who  feel  equally  interested 
with  me  to  know  what  we  consider  a  very  impor¬ 
tant  fact,  I  take  the  liberty  to  enquire  of  you 
wThether  you  are  a  Mason? 

“  The  prostration  of  that  dangerous  institution 
is  considered  in  this  section  of  the  country  para¬ 
mount  to  any  other  consideration,  and  it  would 
give  us  great  pleasure  and  satisfaction  to  hear 
directly  from  you,  and  to  hear  that  you  do  not 
belong  to  that  brotherhood.  I  have  reflected  upon 
the  propriety  of  writing  you  directly,  for  this  some 
time  past,  and  have  finally  concluded  that  it  is 
undoubtedly  my  duty  to  make  this  inquiry,  and  I 
conclude  you  will  most  cheerfully  give  me  an 
answer.  I  am  satisfied  with  your  administration, 
and  shall  feel  very  cordially  disposed  to  sujvport 
your  re-election  should  I  hear  you  never  have  been 
contaminated  with  that  useless  trumpery,  Masonry; 
and  you  may  be  assured  that  in  case  you  have  not 
been  so  unfortunate  as  to  have  joined  that  society, 
very  much  can  and  will  be  done  in  this  section  of 
the  State  in  your  behalf  upon  that  ground. 

“Respectfully  Yours, 

“Oliver  Hartwell.” 


CONCURRENT  EVENTS. 


137 


Mr.  Adams’  reply  was  as  follows : — 


“Washington, 


“Oliver  Hartwell,  Esq., 


“ 19th  April,  1828- 


u 


Sir: 


Canandaigua ,  JV.  Y. 


“  In  answer  to  your  inquiry  in  your  letter  of  the 
31st  ult.,  I  state  that  I  am  not,  never  was,  and 
never  shall  be  a  Free  Mason.  I  give  you  this 
answer  in  the  spirit  of  friendly  return  to  the  kind¬ 
ness  with  which  you  have  made  the  inquiry.  But, 
unwilling  to  contribute  to  the  excitement  produced 
by  the  mysterious  abduction  and  probable  murder 
of  William  Morgan,  I  request  you  not  to  give 
publicity  to  this  letter.  The  deep  and  solemn 
feeling  which  pervades  the  community  on  this 
occasion  is  founded  on  the  purest  principles  of 
human  virtue  and  of  human  rights.  In  the  just 
and  lawful  pursuit  of  a  signal  vindication  of  the 
laws  of  nature,  and  of  the  land,  violated  in  his 
person,  which  has  been  undertaken  and  is  yet  in 
progress,  with  the  authority  and  co-operation  of 
your  Legislature,  I  hope  and  trust  that  the  fellow 
citizens  of  the  sufferer  will  temper  with  the  spirit 
of  justice  the  reparation  of  her  wrongs,  and  in  the 
infliction  of  every  penalty  carefully  abstain  from 
visiting  upon  the  innocent  the  misdeeds  of  the 

guilty-  “I  am,  with  respect, 

“Your  fellow  citizen, 

“J.  Q.  Adams.” 


138 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


Letters  had  previously  been  addressed  to 
Mr.  Adams,  in  order  to  ascertain  his  opinion 
on  one  subject  of  religion.  Those  he  very 
properly  refused  to  answer.  When,  how¬ 
ever,  Mr.  Hartwell  addressed  him  a  letter 
on  the  subject  of  Free  Masonry,  and  ap¬ 
prised  him  of  its  bearing  on  the  Presidential 
contest,  his  letter  was  answered  without 
delay.  The  answer,  however,  was  calcu¬ 
lated  to  excite  surprise,  if  not  suspicion. 

A  President  of  the  United  States,  the 
most  dignified  officer  in  the  world,  writing 
political  letters  to  a  dismissed  Postmaster, 
for  the  evident  purpose  of  enlisting  the 
Morgan  excitement  into  his  service,  was  a 
novel  spectacle  to  the  American  people.  It 
has  been  pretended  that  such  was  not  his 
object.  The  peculiar  phraseology  of  the 
letter  itself,  however,  refutes  the  assertion, 
and  particularly  the  expression,  “I  am  not, 
never  was,  and  never  shall  be  a  Free 
Mason.”  Had  Mr.  Adams  merely  informed 
his  inquirer  (as  the  letter  was  not  intended 
for  publication)  that  he  was  not  a  Mason, 
it  would  in  all  probability  have  sufficiently 


CONCURRENT  EVENTS. 


139 


gratified  Mr.  Hartwell’s  vanity,  and  pro¬ 
duced  the  desired  effect.  When,  however, 
he  descended  from  the  dignity  of  his  station, 
and  pledged  himself  to  Mr.  Hartwell,  “that 
he  never  would  be  a  Mason,”  the  conclu¬ 
sion  irresistibly  follows  that  it  was  the 
wish  of  the  President  that  the  anti-masonic 
excitement  should  minister  as  far  as  possible 
to  his  ambition,  and  further  his  prospects 
for  another  term  in  the  Presidential  chair. 

But  anti-masonry  in  politics  soon  came 
to  an  end,  and,  despite  its  arrogance,  soon 
crumbled  beneath  the  weight  of  its  own 
corruption.  Having  no  political  object 
except  to  elevate  into  office  a  few  designing 
politicians,  with  no  bond  of  principle  to 
unite  them,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  that 
the  anti-masonic  party  soon  closed  its  politi¬ 
cal  career. 

As  a  contrast  between  the  spirit  of  Free 
Masonry  and  anti-masonry,  one  or  two 
illustrations  seem  to  us  worth  recording. 

*  At  the  battle  of  the  Cedars,  about  thirty 
miles  from  Montreal,  on  the  Biver  St.  Law¬ 
rence,  Capt.  McKinstry,  of  Col.  Patterson’s 


140 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


regiment  of  Continental  troops,  was  twice 
wounded  and  taken  prisoner  by  the  Indians. 
His  intrepidity  as  an  officer  had  excited  the 
fears  and  unforgiving  resentment  of  the 
savages,  who  determined  to  put  him  to 
death.  Already  had  the  victim  been  bound 
to  the  tree  and  surrounded  by  the  faggots 
intended  for  his  immolation.  Hope  had  fled, 
and,  in  the  agony  of  despair,  he  uttered  the 
last  mystic  appeal  of  a  Mason,  when,  as  if 
Heaven  had  interposed  for  his  preservation, 
the  warrior  Brandt  understood  and  saved 
him.  Brandt  had  been  educated  in  Europe 
and  was  there  made  a  Mason. 

At  an  anti-masonic  celebration  held  at 
Le  Boy,  Genesee  County,  N.  Y.,  on  the 
Fourth  of  July,  1828,  the  following  elegant 
and  sentimental  toast  was  given  by  a  gentle¬ 
man  of  high  standing  in  the  community  and 
one  of  the  anti-masonic  vice-presidents  at 
the  celebration,  and  drunk  by  the  multitude 
with  great  applause:  “Free  Masonry — May 
it  be  put  where  it  will  stay  put.”  • 

Anti-masonry,  as  we  have  seen,  not  only 
has  labored  to  secure  political  power,  but  in 


CONCURRENT  EVENTS. 


141 


every  possible  manner  it  has  extended  its 
influence  toward  the  Church  and  those  pro¬ 
fessing  Christianity.  The  proceedings  of 
the  different  ecclesiastical  tribunals  which 
have  been  convened,  and,  under  pretense  of 
advancing  the  cause  of  Zion,  have  de¬ 
nounced  Masons  and  Masonic  clergymen, 
would  fill  many  such  volumes  as  this,  and 
must,  therefore,  be  passed  over  in  silence. 
But  the  uniform  record  of  history  shows 
most  plainly  that  the  exclusion  of  Masons 
from  Christian  fellowship,  the  perversion  of 
the  pulpit  to  purposes  of  proscription,  and 
the  destruction  of  harmony  in  religious 
societies  by  anti-masonic  intolerance,  has 
never  advanced  the  cause  of  true  religion 
or  brought  peace  and  hope  to  any  living 
man.  Anti-masonry  has  simply  been  in  the 
Church,  and  to  Christian  men,  what  a  hun¬ 
gry  wolf  would  be  in  a  fold  of  sheep,  raven¬ 
ous,  rapacious,  insatiate. 

A  meeting  was  held  in  the  town  of  Poult- 
ney,  Steuben  County,  at  which  it  was,  among 
other  things, 


142 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


Resolved ,  “That  they  would  not  hear  any 
Free  Mason  preach,  unless  said  preacher 
would  openly  and  boldly  declare  that  the 
institution  was  wicked  and  a  delusion.” 

At  a  meeting  in  the  town  of  Elba,  Gene¬ 
see  County,  held  at  the  house  of  John 
Wyllis,  on  the  3d  day  of  March,  1827,  it 
was,  among  other  things, 

Resolved ,  “That  they  would  not  support 
any  person  for  any  office,  or  any  minister  of 
the  gospel,  who  is  a  Mason.” 

We  have  the  record  of  more  than  a  thou¬ 
sand  different  meetings  of  a  similar  char¬ 
acter  at  which  similar  resolutions  were 
passed.  Newspapers  were  established  to 
give  them  currency,  and  the  most  inflam¬ 
matory  appeals,  together  with  the  basest 
falsehoods,  filled  their  columns.  The  effect 
of  all  this  clamor  and  execration  can  be 
better  imagined  than  described.  History, 
however,  happily  shows  that  the  better  senti¬ 
ments  of  human  nature  have  gradually  over¬ 
come  this  senseless  outcry. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  American 
Revolution  Free  Masonry,  in  this  country, 


CONCURRENT  EVENTS. 


143 


was  principally  confined  to  the  large  villages 
and  seaport  towns.  Before  the  first  blow 
was  struck  there  were  a  number  of  Lodges 
in  Massachusetts  which  had  received  their 
charters  from  the  mother  country,  but  who 
then  formed  themselves  into  a  Grand  Lodge 
and  assumed  jurisdiction  separate  from  the 
Grand  Lodge  of  England.  Dr.  Joseph  War¬ 
ren,  the  illustrious  patriot  who  sealed  with 
his  blood  the  sincerity  of  his  patriotism, 
was  the  first  Grand  Master  of  the  first 
Grand  Lodge.  Washington  succeeded  him, 
and  for  a  number  of  years  presided  over  the 
Masonic  councils  of  the  land  as  well  as  over 
its  armies.  In  fact,  during  the  Kevolution- 
ary  war  and  afterward,  Masonry  became 
extremely  popular,  and  its  growth  under 
the  auspices  of  Washington,  Franklin,  Ham¬ 
ilton  and  a  host  of  others  alike  distinguished 
on  the  rolls  of  fame,  was  equaled  only  by 
the  grandeur  of  its  object  and  the  purity  of 
its  precepts.  Lodges  were  rapidly  estab¬ 
lished  all  over  the  land,  and,  in  Western 
New  York,  the  theater  of  the  anti-masonic 
events  which  we  have  chronicled,  the  savage 


144 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


and  the  wild  beasts  had  hardly  retired  be¬ 
fore  the  banners  of  Masonry  were  flung  to 
the  breeze.  The 'first  Lodge  was  organized 
in  Batavia  in  1820;  in  1825  a  Chapter  was 
established  there,  and  in  1827  the  Encamp¬ 
ment,  which  had  previously  been  located  at 
Le  Boy,  was  also  removed  thither. 

After  the  intentions  of  Miller  and  Mor¬ 
gan  in  relation  to  “the  hook”  were  publicly 
announced,  there  arrived  in  Batavia  one 
Daniel  Johns.  He  came  from  Canada,  hut 
had  previously  resided  for  a  short  time  in 
Bochester,  where  he  became  acquainted 
with  some  of  Miller’s  friends,  by  whom,  it 
is  said,  he  was  recommended  to  Miller  as  a 
suitable  partner.  Johns  had  a  little  money 
and  offered  to  make  some  advances,  and  at 
that  time  pecuniary  aid  was  much  needed. 
He  was,  therefore,  without  any  special  con¬ 
sideration  or  reflection,  received  into  their 
confidence. 

The  object  of  Johns  in  the  formation  of 
this  partnership  has  never  been  actually 
known,  but  subsequent  developments  seem 
to  justify  the  conclusion  that  there  was 


CONCURRENT  EVENTS. 


145 


deception  practiced  on  both  sides.  It  seems 
quite  certain  that  Johns  hoped  to  obtain 
possession  of  Morgan’s  manuscripts,  while 
Miller  was  equally  anxious  to  get  Johns’ 
money.  This  intended  deception,  it  seems, 
partially  succeeded.  Johns  obtained  a  part 
of  the  manuscripts  alluded  to,  and  Miller 
secured  about  forty  dollars  in  cash.  As  the 
manuscripts,  however,  were  of  no  value, 
Miller,  it  has  been  admitted  by  all,  obtained 
an  advantage.  Of  this  Johns  was  aware, 
but  in  endeavoring  to  bring  Miller  to  terms 
involved  himself  and  some  of  his  friends  in 
a  series  of  difficulties  which,  however,  are 
hardly  worth  repeating  here.  There  seems 
to  be  no  doubt  but  that  the  prime  object  of 
Miller  and  Morgan  in  publishing  the  so- 
called  “Illustrations  of  Masonry”  were  mer¬ 
cenary,  for  the  reason  that  it  was  sold  at 
first  for  one  dollar  a  copy  when  the  expense 
of  publication  could  not  have  exceeded 
seven  or  eight  cents. 

It  also  seems  very  certain  that  it  was 
Morgan’s  intention,  at  first,  to  have  remained 
unknown  as  the  author,  and,  had  his  inten- 


14:6  MASONIC  LIGHT 

tion  in  that  particular  met  the  approbation 
of  his  more  cunning  and  avaricious  part¬ 
ners,  his  book  would  probably  have  remained 
as  much  of  a  secret  as  its  author  himself. 
They,  however,  reasoned  otherwise  and  con¬ 
sidered  a  stir  among  Masons  necessary  to 
insure  its  sale 

But  few  copies  were  sold  at  a  dollar.  Its 
price  was  soon  reduced  to  fifty  cents — after¬ 
wards  to  twenty-five  cents,  and  finally  to 
about  the  first  cost.  From  all  accounts  no 
one  connected  with  its  publication  ever 
made  any  profits  of  consequence  out  of  its 
issue  or  sale.  Few  had  the  patience  to  read 
it  through,  and  it  soon  sunk  into  its  deserved 
oblivion.  All  such  attempts  have  terminated 
in  the  disgrace  of  their  authors,  without  in 
the  least  injuring  the  cause  of  Masonry. 


CHAPTER  X. 


THURLOW  WEED - HIS  CONNECTION  WITH  THE 

MORGAN  AFFAIR,  AND  THE  ANTI-MASONIC 
AGITATION  IN  NEW  YORK. 

THURLOW  WEED,  whose  prominent 
connection  with  the  William  Morgan 
affair  is  a  matter  of  history,  was  born 
in  1797  under  the  shadows  of  the  Catskills, 
just  as  Washington  had  ceased  to  be  Presi¬ 
dent.  He  came  of  Connecticut  Yankee 
stock,  full  of  push  and  ambition,  and  at  the 
age  of  10,  seized  with  a  desire  to -see  the 
world,  he  embarked  as  cabin  boy  on  a  Hud¬ 
son  river  sloop  for  a  voyage  to  the  city  of 
New  York. 

At  that  time  New  York  city  contained 

about  75,000  people,  and  was  nearly  all 
below  Grand  Street.  DeWitt  Clinton  was 

mayor,  and  in  his  fertile  brain  the  grand 


148 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


Erie  canal  project  was  evolving,  which  he 
was  sure  would  make  New  York  the  me¬ 
tropolis  of  the  Western  hemisphere. 

This  was  also  the  year  when  the  first 
steamboat,  Robert  Fulton’s  “  Cleremont,” 
made  regular  trips  to  and  from  Albany  at 
the  then  surprising  speed  of  five  miles  an 
hour. 

Mr.  Weed’s  introduction  to  New  York 
city  was  certainly  humble  enough,  consist¬ 
ing  in  a  tramp  up  Broad  street  with  the 
trunk  of  one  of  the  sloop’s  passengers  on 
his  shoulders. 

Without  following  his  earlier  history  in 
detail,  we  find  him,  in  1827,  a  young  man 
in  Western  New  York,  where  he  first  came 
prominently  into  notice  while  member  of 
an  anti-masonic  committee  appointed  to 
investigate  as  to  the  alleged  abduction  and 
murder  of  Morgan.  At  this  time  he  was 
poor  but  aspiring,  and  being  unable  to  gain 
admission  into  either  of  the  inner  rings  of 
the  two  political  camps,  he  joined  the  ranks 
of  the  anti-masonic  agitators,  and  while  a 
member  of  the  above-mentioned  committee, 


THURLOW  WEED. 


149 


was  accused  of  perpetrating  an  act,  the 
shame  and  dishonor  of  which  followed  him 
to  his  dying  day. 

Fully  thirteen  months  after  the  disap¬ 
pearance  of  Morgan,  the  drowned  body  of 
Timothy  Monro  was  found  at  Oak  Orchard 
Creek.  Mr.  Weed,  accompanied  by  his  man 
Friday,  John  Marchant,  and  several  others, 
resurrected  the  body,  and  before  the  second 
inquest  was  held,  shaved  the  head  and 
pulled  out  the  whiskers  so  as  to  make  it 
resemble  Morgan. 

Regarding  this  transaction,  which  was 
generally  understood  and  believed  at  the 
time,  the  following  affidavit  was  published 
in  the  Rochester  Daily  Advertiser ,  Nov.  7, 
1827 : 

“  William  C.  Green ,  being  duly  sworn, 
deposeth  and  says  that  he,  the  said  Green, 
with  others,  did  attend  the  poll  of  election 
held  at  Howards,  in  the  town  of  Gates,  in 
the  county  of  Monroe,  and  that  there  Mr. 
Thurlow  Weed  did  say  that  he,  the  said 
Weed,  did  pull  the  whiskers  from  the  face 
of  the  body  found  at  Oak  Orchard  Creek, 


150 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


and  that  John  M archant  did  shave  the 
same,  he,  the  said  Weed,  being  one  of  the 
Morgan  Committee. 

“William  C.  Green.” 

“Subscribed  and  sworn  this  6th  day  of 
November,  1827,  before  me. 

“Samuel  Miller,  J.  P.” 

Mr.  Weed’s  equivocal  denials  of  this, 
never  fully  satisfied  his  friends.  When 
charged  with  the  act  at  the  time,  it  is  stated 
he  triumphantly  asserted  that  it  was  “  a 
good  enough  Morgan  till  after  election.  ” 

As  a  matter  of  course,  Mr.  Weed  also 
denied  that  he  ever  made  the  aforesaid 
remark,  but  does  admit  in  his  autobiogra¬ 
phy  that  when  a  lawyer  said  to  him  at  the 
third  inquest  held  upon  the  body:  “After 
we  have  proven  the  body  found  at  Oak 
Orchard  to  be  that  of  Timothy  Monro, 
what  will  you  do  for  a  Morgan?”  He, 
Weed,  replied  “that  is  a  good  enough  Mor¬ 
gan  for  us  until  you  bring  back  the  one 
you  carried  off.” 


THURLOW  WEED. 


151 


In  any  event,  which  ever  expression  was 
used,  it  was  a  thorn  in  the  side  of  Mr. 
Weed  from  that  day  until  he  died.  Any 
allusion  to  it  was  distasteful,  and  his  inti¬ 
mate  friends  carefully  avoided  making  men¬ 
tion  of  it  in  his  presence.  Speaking  of  the 
alleged  imposition  and  his  connection  there¬ 
with,  Mr.  Weed  said  a  few  years  before  his 
death:  “A  great  many  believe  it.  It  was 
not  to  be  disproved  to  the  satisfaction  of 
the  public.  I  was  abhorred  by  tens  of 
thousands.  Old  acquaintances  cut  me.  I 
was  pointed  at  in  the  street.  Strangers 
would  look  askance  at  me;  I  saw  them. 
Friends  gave  me  the  cold  shoulder.  I  was 
made  to  feel  everywhere  and  every  hour 
that  I  was  a  marked  man.” 

Many  will  ask  why  he  should  have  done 
this,  and  yet  the  answer  has  been  more 
than  suggested.  As  noted  in  a  former  chap¬ 
ter,  an  important  election  was  just  at  hand; 
the  two  political  parties  were  torn  asunder 
by  anti-masonic  agitators  and  prevaricators; 
Mr.  Weed  was  young  and  full  of  zeal  in  a 
new  cause ;  the  alleged  abduction  and  mur- 


152 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


der  was  the  signal  and  pretext  for  the  for¬ 
mation  of  a  political  party  with  national 
pretensions  rallying  under  the  banner  of 
anti-masonry.  Here  was  the  opportunity, 
and  he  made  the  most  of  it  to  his  great 
sorrow  in  later  years.  There  is  no  ques¬ 
tion  but  Mr.  Weed’s  disgraceful  course 
while  a  member  of  the  Morgan  Committee, 
his  publication  of  the  Anti-Masonic  En¬ 
quirer ,  in  Rochester,  and  his  zeal  as  a  trav¬ 
eling  detective  to  secure  evidence  for  the 
purpose  of  fixing  the  crime  of  murder  on 
the  Masons,  was,  in  the  latter  part  of  his 
life,  a  cause  of  infinite  regret  and  torment. 

As  regards  the  anti-masonic  party,  its 
organization  was  purely  selfish,  illiberal, 
and  narrow-minded.  Naturally,  therefore, 
it  never  did,  and  never  could,  become  a 
national  power.  Its  first  convention  to 
organize  as  a  national  party  was  held  in 
Philadelphia,  Sept.  11,  1830.  Among  the 
ten  delegates  representing  the  state  of  New 
York  were  Thurlow  Weed  and  William  H. 
Seward.  A  second  convention  was  held  in 
Baltimore  in  1831,  when  William  Wirt,  of 


THUREOW  WEED. 


153 


Maryland,  was  nominated  for  President, 
and  Amos  Ellmaker,  of  Pennsylvania,  for 
Vice  President.  This  ticket  secured  the 
seven  electoral  votes  of  Vermont. 

Upon  the  failure  of  Mr.  Weed’s  anti- 
masonic  paper  he  engaged  actively  as  a 
sleuth-hound  in  hunting  up  testimony  for 
the  Morgan  Committee.  He  traveled  hither 
and  thither.  He  found  Owen  Parkhurst  at 
Windsor,  Vt.,  and  undertook,  for  the  sum 
of  $193.55,  to  take  him  to  Batavia,  N.  Y., 
to  testify.  He  took  him  along  quietly 
enough  until  they  reached  the  canal  at 
Albany,  where  they  embarked  on  a  packet 
boat  and  retired.  Meanwhile  Mrs.  Platt, 
the  wife  of  Ezra  Platt,  had  been  told,  as 
they  passed  through  Albany,  that  Park- 
hurst’s  testimony  would  convict  her  hus¬ 
band,  who  was  on  trial  for  participating  in 
the  alleged  abduction.  Dressing  herself  in 
men’s  clothes  she  overtook  the  boat  which 
had  Mr.  Weed  and  his  witness  as  passen¬ 
gers.  While  Weed  slept  she  woke  up  Park¬ 
hurst,  appealed  to  him  not  to  testify,  and 
had  him  set  ashore  in  the  middle  of  the 


154 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


night.  Upon  missing  him  in  the  morning 
Weed  was  bewildered  and  mortified,  but  he 
made  out  his  bill  just  the  same  and  pock¬ 
eted  the  $193.55. 

He  also  found  an  old  soldier  named  Eli¬ 
sha  Adams,  who  had  been  employed  at  Fort 
Niagara,  and  for  bringing  him  from  Ver¬ 
mont  to  testify  before  the  committee  he 
received  $150.82,  notwithstanding  the  old 
man’s  evidence  amounted  to  absolutely 
nothing. 

Not  a  little  deceptive  anti-masonic  capi¬ 
tal  has  been  made  out  of  an  alleged  con¬ 
fession  which  it  was  said  Mr.  John  Whitney 
desired  to  make  to  Mr.  Weed.  The  truth 
is  that  this  pretended  confession  and  his 
connection  with  it  adds  no  credit  to  the 
memory  of  Mr.  Weed.  He  stated  in  vari¬ 
ous  interviews  and  communications  that 
Mr.  Whitney  met  him  in  Chicago  in  1860 
and  desired  him  to  write  out  the  alleged 
confession,  and  afterward  make  it  public, 
which  he  promised  to  do.  Owing  to  want 
of  time,  and  the  excitement  connected  with 
the  Republican  convention,  to  which  Mr. 


THURLOW  WEED. 


155 


Weed  was  a  delegate,  the  matter,  he  says, 
was  neglected;  and  when  in  London,  in 
1861,  Mr.  Weed  states  that  he  wrote  to 
Whitney  regarding  the  promised  confession, 
which  letter  was  returned  unopened  owing, 
he  says,  to  Mr.  Whitney’s  death.  The 
falsity  of  this  apocryphal  story  appears 
when  it  is  known  as  a  matter  of  fact  that 
the  only  time  Whitney  met  Mr.  Weed  was 
at  the  Tremont  House  in  Chicago,  when  in 
an  angry  manner  he  demanded  that  Weed 
should  stop  making  false  statements  as  to 
him  and  his  connection  with  the  Morgan 
affair.  He  declared  that  he,  Whitney,  was 
in  no  way  connected  with  the  abduction  of 
Morgan,  and  that  Weed  knew  it.  After 
quieting  him,  Mr.  Weed  said  he  was  only 
using  the  stories  for  political  effect,  and 
finally  promised  to  stop.  As  to  the  London 
letter  being  returned  on  account  of  Mr. 
Whitney’s  death  in  1861,  it  is  a  fact  that 
he  did  not  die  until  May  3,  1869,  and  was 
buried  by  the  Masons  of  Chicago  in  Grace- 
land  Cemetery. 


156 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


There  are  several  other  curious,  not  to 
say  questionable,  items  regarding  Mr. 
Weed’s  course  in  this  alleged  mystery,  but 
we  think  enough  has  been  shown  to  justify 
Masons  in  repudiating  any  and  all  pretended 
evidence  which  was  gathered  or  asserted  by 
him  and  used  so  zealously  against  the  order. 

At  the  time  of  his  death,  Mr.  Weed’s  for¬ 
tune  was  estimated  at  from  $1,000,000  to 
$2,000,000,  and  it  is  safe  to  say  he  would 
gladly  have  given  a  princely  sum  if  he  could 
have  effectually  wiped  out  the  stigma  of  his 
connection  with  anti-masonry.  If  such  be 
not  a  fair  conclusion,  it  seems  strange  that 
nearly  one-fifth  of  the  volume  of  his  mem¬ 
oirs  should  be  devoted  to  ingenious  fabrica¬ 
tions  and  excuses  in  order  to  shade  down 
and  justify  his  acts. 

After  all,  the  result  of  this  agitation  and 
persecution,  which  was  provoked  by  Thur- 
low  Weed,  William  H.  Seward,  Francis 
Granger,  Frederick  Whittlesey  and  others, 
was  only  to  knit  the  bonds  of  the  brother¬ 
hood  among  the  faithful  more  closely. 


CHAPTER  XI. 


WHAT  BECAME  OF  WILLIAM  MORGAN. 

ON  the  13th  day  of  September,  1882,  an 
anti-Masonic  organization  assembled  in 
the  cemetery  at  Batavia,  N.  Y.,  and  un¬ 
veiled  a  monument  sacred  to  the  memory 
of  William  Morgan. 

Among  other  inscriptions  on  the  face  of 
the  shaft,  is  one  stating  that  Morgan  “  was 
abducted  from  near  this  spot  in  the  year 
1826  by  Free  Masons,  and  murdered  for 
revealing  the  secrets  of  their  order.”  On 
the  monument  he  is  also  called  “  a  martyr 
to  the  freedom  of  writing,  printing  and 
speaking  the  truth.” 

Standing  in  the  shadow  of  this  imposing 
monument  and  gazing  at  the  surmounting 
statue,  with  all  due  reverence  for  the  place 
and  purpose  thereof,  one  cannot  help  ex;- 


158 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


claiming;  what  a  stupendous  farce!  what 
an  unparalleled  imposition ! 

The  body  which  is  supposed  to  rest  under 
this  monument,  is  no  more  the  body  of 
William  Morgan  than  it  is  the  body  of 
Judas  Iscariot. 

The  projectors  of  this  sculptured  fraud 
were  mostly  clergymen,  who  certainly  had 
intelligence  enough  to  doubt  whether  a 
forty-foot  monument,  surmounted  by  a 
seven-foot  figure,  was  evidence  enough  to 
convince  the  world  that  a  would-be  traitor 
rested  beneath  its  base. 

After  the  disappearance  of  Morgan  he 
was  taken  to  Canada,  and  for  a  handsome 
money  consideration  contributed  by  anti- 
Masons,  he  agreed  to  leave  the  country  and 
in  so  doing  aid  the  anti-masonic  agitators, 
and  never  return. 

He  was  supplied  with  several  thousand 
dollars  in  specie,  conveyed  to  Boston,  and 
within  six  months  after  his  disappearance 
ho  sailed  from  that  port  for  Smyrna,  Asia 
Minor,  in  the  brig  America,  owned  by  Ezra 


WHAT  BECAME  OF  WILLIAM  MORGAN.  159 


Weston  of  Duxbury,  Mass.,  and  commanded 
by  Captain  Waterman. 

Happily  the  confirming  proofs  of  this 
statement  are  ample,  and  go  to  show  that 
Morgan  was  for  years  a  resident  of  Smyrna, 
and  that  there  he  undoubtedly  died. 

The  following  letter  from  Captain  Samuel 
I.  Masters,  who,  at  the  time  he  wrote  it, 
resided  in  Greenwich,  Washington  county, 
New  York,  where  he  enjoyed  the  highest 
respect  and  confidence  of  the  community, 
will  be  read  with  interest  and  can  be  de¬ 
pended  upon  as  authentic  and  truthful : 

Dear  Sir: 

1  write  you  this  to  say  that  I  have  no  doubt 
whatever  that  William  Morgan  was,  in  1830,  a 
resident  of  Smyrna,  in  Asia  Minor.  One  morning 
as  Capt.  Ingalls,  of  the  ship  Don  Quixote  of  New 
York,  and  myself,  were  strolling  around  the  Turk¬ 
ish  bazaars  at  Smyrna,  I  was  accosted  in  English 
by  a  man  wearing  a  long  beard,  dressed  in  Turkish 
costume,  inquiring  whether  I  was  in  wrant  of  any 
bread  for  ship  use.  I  asked  him  wdiere  he  learned 
to  speak  English.  He  said  he  had  been  to  Am¬ 
erica.  Knowing  that  the  Turks  were  not  a  roving 
people  I  asked  him  what  part  of  the  United  States 


160 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


he  had  visited.  With  some  little  hesitation  he 
replied  that  he  had  visited  Canandagua  in  the  State 
of  New  York.  I  then  asked  him  if  he  had  any 
acquaintances  residing  there.  He  said  he  knew 
Mr.  Blossom,  who  kept  the  hotel  there.  I  enquired 
of  him  how  long  Mr.  Blossom  had  kept  the  house, 
and  where  he  came  from.  His  reply  wTas  that  he 
had  kept  it  for  several  years,  and  that  he  came 
from  New  Haven  to  Canandagua.  I  then  re¬ 
marked  to  Captain  Ingalls  that  this  man  must  have 
been  there,  for  his  answers  were  correct.  Capt. 
Ingalls  subsequently  informed  me  for  the  first 
time,  that  this  assumed  Turk  was  supposed  to  be 
William  Morgan.  I  regretted  that  I  did  not  know 
this  fact  before,  for  I  should  have  interrogated  him 
more  closely.  During  the  day  we  met  with  Mr. 
Brewer,  an  American  gentleman,  late  tutor  at  Yale 
College,  who  had  recently  arrived  from  the  United 
States,  and  I  related  the  foregoing  circumstance  to 
him.  He  fortunately  happened  to  have  a  printed 
description  of  William  Morgan’s  person  among  his 
papers.  We  took  it  with  us  and  compared  it  with 
the  pretended  Turk  and  found  it  to  correspond  in 
every  respect,  even  to  having  double  teeth  in  front. 
There  then  remained  but  little  if  any  doubt  in  our 
minds  that  this  man  was  really  William  Morgan, 
and  we  so  expressed  ourselves  to  the  United  States 
consul  at  Smyrna,  who  admitted  there  was  a  great 


WHAT  BECAME  OF  WILLIAM  MORGAN.  161 


mystery  about  him;  that  he  came  from  Boston  to 
Smyrna  about  the  time  William  Morgan  was  miss¬ 
ing;  that  he  brought  with  him  $4,000  in  specie, 
turned  Turk  and  was  circumcised ;  that  it  seemed 
strange  to  him  that  a  man  with  that  amount  of 
money  should  turn  Turk ;  and  that  he  had  received 
many  letters  from  the  United  States  enquiring  as 
to  the  character  of  the  pretended  Turk.  Our 
opinion  as  to  his  being  Morgan  was  also  endorsed 
by  Messrs.  Iseverden,  Stitk  &  Co.,  a  highly  respect¬ 
able  American  firm,  and  Mr.  Yan  Closs  the  Dutch 
consul,  with  whom  I  became  acquainted — having 
letters  of  introduction  to  him. 

Im  a  not  a  Free  Mason  myself,  nor  have  I  ever 
belonged  to  their  fraternity,  therefore  I  have  thus 
given  a  correct  narrative  of  facts  just  as  they 
occurred,  without  any  prejudice  whatever. 

I  have  also  in  my  possession  a  letter  from  U.  B. 
S.  Eldred,  of  Auburn,  N.  Y.,  in  which  he  says: — 
“I  saw  a  gentleman  in  Philadelphia  in  1859,  who 
told  me  that  he  saw  and  conversed  with  a  man 
who  knew  Morgan  in  the  United  States;  and  this 
person  said  he  saw  and  talked  writh  Morgan  in 
Smyrna  after  his  alleged  murder.  He  was  a 
reliable  man,  and  willing  to  swear  to  the  fact.” 

Yours,  very  truly, 

S.  I.  Masters. 

Greenwich,  H.  Y.,  Aug.  15,  1875. 


162 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


The  publication  of  the  above  communi¬ 
cation  brought  to  the  front  Capt.  Andrew 
Hitchcock,  of  West  Troy,  N.  Y.,.who  at 
once  corroborated  Mr.  Masters’  statement 
and  gave  the  following  personal  facts: 

“  He  was  a  sailor  in  1830,  and  in  the 
month  of  February  was  on  board  the  United 
States  man-of-war  Java,  then  at  Smyrna, 
Asia  Minor.  He,  with  200  others,  had  been 
transferred  from  the  Delaware,  on  which 
vessel  he  shipped;  to  the  Java,  when  the 
Delaware  was  ordered  home,  and  his  vessel 
remained  in  Asiatic  waters  all  winter.  Fre¬ 
quent  excursions  were  of  course  made  to 
the  shore,  hut  it  was  not  until  on  or  about 
the  6th  of  February,  1830,  that  the  second 
cutter  of  which  he  was  one  of  the  crew,  was 
ordered  by  the  commandant,  Capt  Skinner, 
to  go  ashore  with  some  of  the  officers. 
Upon  reaching  the  land,  an  American,  wear¬ 
ing  the  habiliments  of  a  Turk,  appeared  and 
met  them.  He  conversed  with  the  officers, 
but  Mr.  Hitchcock  heard  him  admit  that 
his  name  was  Morgan,  and  that  he  was  the 
person  whose  disappearance  had  created 


WHAT  BECAME  OF  WILLIAM  MORGAN.  163 


such  excitement  in  America.  He  appeared 
to  be  in  good  circumstances  and  contented 
with  his  life.  He  was  asked  to  go  on  hoard 
the  Java  but  refused,  although  he  promised 
to  do  so  at  some  future  time.  That  time 
never  came,  however,  for  during  the  stay  of 
the  Java  in  that  port  Morgan  could  not  be 
persuaded  to  leave  the  shore. 

The  affair  caused  great  excitement  on 
shipboard  at  the  time,  especially  among  the 
officers,  all  of  whom  were  entirely  convinced 
as  to  the  identity  of  the  Turk  and  Morgan. 
Whether  or  not  he  ever  stated  to  the 
officers  how  he  got  to  Smyrna,  or  what 
caused  him  to  become  a  Turk,  Mr.  Hitch¬ 
cock  did  not  know.  He  never  saw  him  but 
twice,  although  he  was  frequently  seen  by 
others.” 

The  above  statement  was  made  in  August, 
1875,  at  which  time  Captain  Hitchcock  was 
69  years  of  age,  enjoying  excellent  health 
and  a  sound  memory.  He  stated  that  “  he 
was  a  disinterested  witness;  was  not  a 
Mason,  and  had  no  interest  in  the  matter 
except  to  lay  the  truth  before  the  public.” 


164 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


He  distinctly  remembered  the  date  from 
incidents  of  a  personal  character  which  im¬ 
pressed  it  on  his  mind. 

Joseph  A.  Bloom,  an  American  scientist 
and  a  gentleman  of  the  highest  character, 
resided  some  time  in  the  city  of  Smyrna, 
and  upon  his  return  home  stated  that  while 
there,  in  1831,  he  became  acquainted  with 
an  American  who  professed  the  Moham¬ 
medan  faith,  who  went  by  the  name  of 
Mustapha.  Mr.  Bloom  had  repeated  con¬ 
versations  with  him  and  was  fully  convinced 
that  he  was  William  Morgan. 

Mr.  Goodall  of  the  American  Bank  Note 
Company  bears  witness  that  when  he  was 
in  Constantinople  he  had  interviews  with 
several  persons  living  in  that  city,  who  in¬ 
formed  him  that  they  personally  knew  Mor¬ 
gan  in  Smyrna;  that  he  acknowledged  he 
sailed  direct  from  this  country  to  that  city, 
when  he  was  reported  murdered,  and  adopted 
the  Turkish  dress  and  the  name  of  Mus¬ 
tapha. 

The  chaplain  of  the  frigate  Brandywine, 
which  brought  LaFayette  to  France  in 


WHAT  BECAME  OF  WILLIAM  MORGAN.  165 


1825,  and  who  was  afterwards  in  the  Medi¬ 
terranean,  in  one  of  his  reports  says :  “  I 
saw  the  man  William  Morgan  in  Smyrna, 
and  talked  with  him.” 

Ezra  S.  Anderson,  writing  to  the  Hallo- 
well  Advocate ,  declared  that  “  he  saw  Mor¬ 
gan  in  1831,  that  he  knew  him  well,  that 
he  was  in  robust  health,  and  that  he  boasted 
of  having  made  a  large  amount  of  money 
by  leaving  America,  as  well  as  from  sales  of 
his  book,  and  that  greater  interest  was 
secured  for  it  from  the  belief  that  he  had 
been  murdered.” 

A  letter  from  the  veteran  news  corres¬ 
pondent,  Ben  Perley  Poore,  under  date  of 
April  2,  1883,  says:  “I  became  satisfied 
when  in  Smyrna,  some  forty  years  since, 
that  Morgan  lived  there  several  years  after 
he  was  reported  murdered,  receiving  a  pen¬ 
sion  from  anti-Masons  in  the  United  States, 
and  died  there.  The  Smyrna  man  was  pro¬ 
tected  by  the  British  consul  who  obtained 
for  him  a  position  m  the  Custom  House 
which  enabled  him  to  wear  the  oriental 
dress  without  molestation,  and  he  took  the 


166 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


name  of  Mustapha.  He  resided  alone  in  a 
small  house  just  out  of  the  city.  After  it 
became  noised  abroad  who  he  was,  Ameri¬ 
cans  visiting  Smyrna  would  ask  him  if  he 
was  William  Morgan.  This  finally  annoyed 
him  to  such  an  extent  that  it  was  thought 
he  feigned  death,  but  actually  left  Smyrna 
on  a  British  man-of-war  bound  to  Yan 
Diemens  Land.  Others  were  confident  that 
he  had  died,  and  that  it  was  his  body  that 
was  buried  near  by.  Be  this  as  it  may,  I 
firmly  believe  that  William  Morgan  resided 
for  a  number  of  years  in  Smyrna,  under  the 
name  of  Mustapha.  I  took  the  statements 
of  four  English  residents  at  Smyrna,  con¬ 
firming  my  belief,  and  had  them  attested  at 
the  United  States  consulate. 

Is  any  more  evidence  needed?  Does  not 
not  the  case  stand  proven  that  this  self-con¬ 
fessed  traitor  spent  his  last  years  a  living 
evidence  of  fraud? 

When  nearly  a  dozen  men,  whose  char¬ 
acter  is  unimpeachable,  and  whose  testimony 
hears  the  warrant  of  transparent  truth, 
bring  this  overwhelming  proof  of  Morgan’s 


WHAT  BECAME  OF  WILLIAM  MORGAN.  167 


existence  years  after  ambitious  and  dis¬ 
honest  anti-masons  had  declared  him  mur¬ 
dered,  what  further  vindication  is  needed? 

There  is  no  excuse,  no  palliation,  no 
justification  for  the  lies  which  anti-masons 
have  been  piling  up  for  more  than  half  a 
century. 

One  of  the  most  singular  facts  connected 
with  this  alleged  crime  is  the  oversight  of 
those  accused,  in  neglecting  the  object 
which  is  represented  to  have  been  the  most 
important  of  all,  namely,  the  suppression  of 
Morgan’s  book.  No  one  seemed  to  care 
anything  about  that.  In  the  light  of  sub¬ 
sequent  revelations,  however,  this  need  not 
appear  so  strange,  since  his  so-called  “Ex¬ 
posal  of  Free-Masonry”  was  simply  a  pla¬ 
giarism  of  an  English  work  published  years 
before,  entitled  “  Jachim  and  Boaz,”  which 
purported  to  reveal  the  secrets  of  the 
“ mystic  tie.”  A  comparison  of  Morgan’s 
book  with  one  of  the  English  books  now  in 
the  Congressional  Library,  at  Washington, 
shows  that  there  was  no  originality  what¬ 
ever  in  the  former. 


168 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


For  a  full  half  century  the  presses,  plat¬ 
forms  and  literature  of  anti-masonic  fanatics 
have  been  surcharged  with  towering  and 
audacious  falsehoods  regarding  the  alleged 
murder  of  William  Morgan.  The  most 
brazen  and  shameless  statements  have  been 
made  regardless  of  the  truth,  having  no 
foundation  save  in  the  confessions  or  asser¬ 
tions  of  men  who  were  unable  to  bring 
decent  vouchers  for  their  honesty,  or  au¬ 
thentic  evidence  as  to  their  respectability 
of  connection. 

It  is  time  some  of  these  base  and  cowardly 
slanders  were  punctured  and  exposed.  It 
needs  only  the  justice  of  historic  truth  to 
show  the  deception  of  those,  who,  with  words 
of  cant  and  hypocrisy,  bury  the  body  of  a 
poor  drowned  fisherman,  and  in  the  name  of 
the  Almighty,  christen  it  as  the  corpse  of  a 
martyr. 

There  is  reason  to  be  thankful  that  anti- 
Masonic  interference  with  religious  or  state 
affairs  will  never  be  a  danger  in  our  country 
in  the  future.  Indeed,  there  is  no  pro¬ 
bability  that  anti-masonry  can  ever  again 


WHAT  BECAME  OF  WILLIAM  MORGAN.  169 


assume  anything  like  its  influence  fifty 
years  ago.  It  has  come  to  be  an  acknow¬ 
ledged  fact  that  bigotry  is  the  affirmation 
of  that  supreme  insolence  which  substitutes 
the  will  of  one  man  for  the  conscience  of 
another. 


CHAPTER  XII. 


CONCLUSION. 

FIFTY  years  ago  it  was  a  common,  and 
to  some  a  serious  inquiry — “Will  Free 
Masonry  survive  ?  The  assaults  of  its 
enemies,  both  under  religious  and  political 
cover  were  prodigious.  Some  who  had  been 
expelled  from  its  organization  for  immoral 
conduct,  some  who  had  sought  admission 
and  failed  to  secure  it,  some  who  had  been 
for  a  long  time  members  and  had  not  re¬ 
ceived  the  recompense  due  to  their  fancied 
merits,  some  who  felt  aggrieved  at  the  con- 

• 

duct  of  individual  Masons,  and  some  for 
the  hope  of  political  preferment,  enlisted 
under  the  anti-masonic  banners.  A  mass 
of  singular  agitators  without  definite  pur¬ 
pose,  and  but  little  sympathy  in  common, 
it  is  not  to  be  wondered  that  anti-masonry 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


171 


has  steadily  and  surely  declined.  America 
is  a  poor  field  for  such  fanatical  sentiments 
as  emanate  from  anti-masonic  pens  and 
platforms.  We  have  already  seen  some  of 
its  effects,  and  it  is  safe  to  conclude  that 
any  greater  power  would  only  result  in 
greater  harm. 

A  certain  quack  once  administered  cabbage 
as  medicine  to  a  shoemaker,  and,  while  it 
did  not  kill  him  outright,  it  did  not  prove 
an  antidote.  He  repeated  it  on  a  tailor 
and  it  killqd  him.  He  therefore  entered  in 
his  journal:  “Cabbage  is  tolerable  good  for 
shoemakers,  but  death  for  tailors.” 

Anti-masonry  may  only  produce  negative 
results  in  certain  sections,  but  to  ever 
prove  a  national  influence  would  be  death 
to  progress  and  a  destroyer  to  the  best 
interests  of  humanity. 

Happily,  however,  there  is  no  possible 
danger  of  such  a  result;  Free  Masonry, 
though  bitterly  assailed  in  the  days  of  our 
fathers,  though  drenched  in  the  blood  of 
its  followers  in  Spain  and  Russia,  still 


172 


CONCLUSION. 


continues  to  flourish.  Its  ancient  origin  is 
fully  established.  It  pervades  every  por¬ 
tion  of  the  habitable  globe,  and  extends  its 
blessed  influence  to  the  distressed  of  every 
clime.  And  well  it  may,  since  Free  Masonry 
regards  no  man  for  his  worldly  wealth  or 
position.  The  hand  that  grasps  the  spade 
and  the  hand  that  wields  the  sceptre  are 
equally  free  to  its  friendly  grip.  No  matter 
what  sun  may  have  burned  upon  him,  no 
matter  who  has  beaten  down  his  liberties, 
the  moment  he  enters  a  lodge  of  Free  and 
Accepted  Masons,  the  distinctions  of  wealth, 
of  rank,  and  of  power  are  forgotten.  He 
is  at  once  among  friends  and  brothers,  and 
is  the  peer  of  the  most  illustrious  names 
of  the  ages.  Free  Masonry  cheers  “  the 
poor  and  weary  pilgrim  traveling  from  afar,” 
and  distress  never  yet  was  turned  penniless 
away  from  its  portals.  It  seeks  no  contest 
with  throne  or  altar,  it  asks  no  assent  to 
political  or  religious  dogmas.  It  solicits  no 
converts  since  it  is  based  on  the  immutable 
principles  of  justice  supported  by  “Wisdom,  . 


MASONIC  LIGHT. 


173 


Strength  and  Beauty,”  and  it  will  endure 
till  the  “last  syllable  of  recorded  time.” 

The  idea  that  Masonry  is  susceptible  of 
the  least  impression  from  such  attacks  as 
have  been  brought  to  bear  upon  it,  or  can 
be  brought  to  bear  upon  it,  is  not  worthy 
of  toleration  for  a  single  moment.  As  well 
attempt  to  arrest  the  sun  in  its  course  or 
extinguish  its  beams  at  mid-day.  Masonry 
is  seated  on  a  rock  inaccessible  to  all  th.e 
malice  of  man.  From  thence  she  surveys  a 
world  of  misery  and  woe,  arrests  the  progress 
of  many  a  tear,  and  from  thence  she  bids  her 
votaries  go  forth  to  aid  and  assist  the  widow 
and  the  orphan ;  taking  every  child  of  humil¬ 
ity  and  sorrow  by  the  hand  she  bids  them 
arise  and  rejoice.  Enlightened  philanthropy, 
undefiled  religion,  and  pure  and  ardent  pa¬ 
triotism  cement  her  brotherhood.  She  has 
promoted  the  kindly  intercourse  of  nations, 
has  softened  the  asperities  and  diminished 
the  woes  of  war,  has  smiled  upon  and  en¬ 
couraged  science  and  literature,  and  aided 
Christianity  in  introducing  an  era  of  light 


174 


CONCLUSION. 


and  salvation.  She  needs  no  defense ,  and 
ashs  for  no  vindication .  Her  record  of  the 
ages  is  before  us,  “fair  as  the  moon,  clear  as 
the  sun”  and  laden  with  the  benedictions 
of  God. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS-URBANA 


3  0112  071794264 


